Secrets
by hpnarutardsjedipirate1234
Summary: There are secrets everywhere. And anyone has their own secrets. But what can these secrets do? Who'll benefit from these secrets and who will be the victims?
1. Prologue

**Me: Hi Guys! This is a new story; I also hope that this will be to your satisfactory!**

**Sasuke: Sooo... is this good?**

**Me: that is for the readers to decide... oh, and I also have a little favour...**

**Sasuke: Dobe...**

**Naruto: What teme?-annoyed-**

**Sasuke: Do the favours...**

**Me: huh?**

**Naruto: Right! hpnarutardsjedipirate1234 doesn't own Naruto or anything at all**

**Me: JA ne! **

**So here is another story! Review at the end!**

**This is just a prologue though... anyway, enjoy! AU everyone!**

**Prologue**

**Hinata: 21 years old**

**Sasuke and the others (Gaara, Naruto, etc.): 22 years old**

**The other others (Hanabi, Moegi, etc.): 18 years old**

**The others of the others (TenTen, Temari, etc.): 24 years old**

**Kankuro: 23 years old (I wouldn't leave him out, though I almost forgot)**

**(~L~) Sasuke's POV**

I was just staring blankly at the ceiling. Not really knowing what to do, just laying on my back on my king-sized bed. It was very comfortable, very relaxing. Nothing really matters to me, not anymore. As I lay on my bed like a dead man, it made me think. What would I be like if I was normal?

What would I be like if I wasn't swoon over by almost all female population? What would it be like if my family wasn't this wealthy? What would it be like if I was more social? So many questions inside my head... and I was just wondering...

What would it be like to be normal?

Was I even normal? Or was I normal, just not the people around me? Sometimes I think it would be best if I die young. I really don't see anything meaningful in my life, right now. What was my purpose of living anyway? My head was full of questions that wasn't really worth my time. I looked around and saw it was still early in the morning, still at dawn. I sat up, and walked by towards my windowsill. I looked at the sky, and wondered; if it was the twilight circle I was seeing. The sky, though still dark, had light drawing really slowly on it. The stars had still shown, while the wind still calm. Everyone still asleep, everyone still peaceful...

Peace...

Do I even know the real meaning of peace? Maybe I do, but maybe... I won't be able to feel it in my life. There were others who deserve more peace than me. So why bother, when there are still others who were more miserable than me? I looked around my town once again, and found it very nice. In a perfect world, it would be the best thing that has ever happened, but for now, this was enough. And I slowly drifted off to sleep once again... who was softly claiming me...

**(~L~) No one's POV**

It was already 6 o' clock in the morning in the village of Konoha, a few people were already starting to wake up, as everyone was preparing for a brand new day, some were still sleeping. As everyone who had willingly woke up, some were also grumpy; others that had slept early, and found it a good day, there were also some who stayed up late, and was awaken, found it a bad day. There will always be a bad side of everything, yet, there will also be a good side, that would appear when the right time comes.

As a young woman was walking down thy streets of the peaceful village, she had met a companion along the way and together they had walked side by side. As one was nourishing the plants, some were walking the pets around for a morning stroll. Everyone was starting off good.

Every morning she would visit her friends at their respected places. She too was expected at the hospital, while she was walking down the streets of Konoha, she had met a friend of hers, Haruno Sakura. Sakura was a young woman of 22 years of existence in this world, with bubblegum pink hair and emerald green eyes. She wore black tights, and a carnation pink, long blouse. Hung on her right hand was her working bag.

Sakura looked over to the one beside her, she wore white khaki pants, and a lavender blazers over a spaghetti-strapped shirt. She had a sling bag on her shoulders and both hands on each side of her pockets. She had always looked cute and beautiful, and wondered why she always felt like she didn't fit in. She decided to converse with her...

"Ne, Hinata?" she started

"Hai, Sakura, what is it?" Hinata replied

"What would it be like if you have someone in your life?" she stopped in her tracks and looked at her, Hinata eyed her with confusion. Not really sure what Sakura was talking about, but nonetheless replied...

"I guess it would feel like it is the best thing that's ever happened in your life." She replied with a smile, Sakura smiled back...

"Well, come on then Hinata, we don't want to keep Ino waiting for us. She must be already impatient and had gotten her father awake and let him watch the shop already!" and she grabbed her hand and dragged her to the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

Yamanaka Ino was one of their friends. She had a blonde hair in a high ponytail, with sapphire blue eyes. Though she was the thinnest of them all, she was healthier than other girls. And she was already posing in front of her flower shop with brows furrowed and eyes closed. She was tapping her foot wildly and leaned on her doorpost, her father watching her from the counter, resting his head with both if his palms with an amused look in his face.

"Hey Ino good morning to you girl, come on let's go!" Sakura greeted her, suddenly her eyes flickered open and saw them. She rushed inside, kissed her father on the cheek and said a short good bye, and went to them...

"About time you guys arrived! I was starting to think you had already passed by." She said and smiled to them, they did the same to her too…

"I wonder what TenTen and Temari are doing right now." Hinata said, both girls looked at her

"Well I certainly think they are doing just fine in the pharmacy. Even though Temari usually just visits us anyway. " Ino said

"They are probably opening up right now or getting ready for the bunch of people who would buy medicines from their branch." Sakura replied reassuringly, Hinata smiled at the both of them. She was so lucky to have this kind of friends. As they were walking along the streets, the two girls with her had suddenly squealed, and rushed away from her side, she ran after them...

"Hey guys wait... up." She said and blushed slightly, and held back… no wonder why they had run away like that; their long-time crush had appeared suddenly out of nowhere. They were always like that when he was around. Just like two little girls who had seen their favourite toy. She sighed and took a few steps back, she noticed Sasuke looked at her, and stared, more like glared at the two girls near him who had bombarded him with lots of questions already...

'_I honestly think they should be in media if they're this much talkative.' _He complained to himself, and looked back at the other girl. He definitely knew her, and was thankful that she was one of the sane girls he had ever met. He sometimes wished his fan girls were like her. Hyuga Hinata was her name; he wondered what it would be like if she was one of his fan girls. He probably would have picked her, than all of the girls. But then again he wasn't interested in any girls... _yet_. And she wasn't one of his fan girls…

Hinata then stared at the three of them, and watched Sasuke politely denying their concerns to him. He might have shrugged them a bit harsh, but he was kind enough to explain why he did it. In his own little ways, in Hinata's opinion, he knew how to say sorry, though not too straight forward. She sometimes even wonder if he did say the word sorry already... in his _entire _life. She just shrugged and grabbed both of her friends' shoulders once Sasuke was gone to go to his office.

They haven't really talked much; she watched the retreating figure of the Uchiha. She doesn't know when he would find the right girl for him already, and was starting to think he was asexual. She shuddered at the thought. If all pretty boys were gays, then all pretty girls would probably be lesbians. By the day that time comes, it would probably be the end of the world! Sigh, what a shame if Sasuke really is...

"Sigh, Sasuke-kun was just probably shy around me." Both of the girls with her said dreamingly with drools coming out of their mouth. Sure, their rivalry was still on, but they weren't like before. They were somehow on friendly terms already; though sometimes, they forget it if Sasuke is around. Hinata looked around and saw the person that would always complete her day...

'_Naruto-kun' _she thought and blushed at the sight of him...

Uzumaki Naruto, the man of her dreams, her first love, her destined man. Well, not really. Destiny has other plans for her, and she has yet to wait. Naruto saw, walked over to them and greeted his cousin, her friend, and his true love...

"Hey Ino, how are you?" he greeted her, and ruffled her hair playfully which caused Ino's eyebrow to twitch, he walked over to Hinata, who was red as a tomato already...

"Hey Hina-chan, as innocent as ever!" he said to her, and finally walked over to his true love...

"Sakura-chan, pretty as always!" he complemented her, Sakura just returned a small smile. Naruto grinned back at her and started running away from them, as if he was in a hurry, and waved at them for his farewell. Sakura looked over to Hinata, who was still as still as a statue. She sighed; this girl was still crushing on the idiot then, Ino suddenly spoke up breaking Hinata's trance...

"Come on Hinata, my idiot of a cousin who just ruined my hair isn't worth your time." She said and grabbed her arm, angrily, though not purposely to the hospital; Sakura just sighed and followed them.

(-_-)

As Sasuke was walking away from the three girls, he met Naruto on the way. He tried to hide away from the dobe as long as possible, so he walked quietly yet fast. Naruto just closed his eyes and whistled a happy tune to add up to his wonderful day. Often times he would open his eyes, to see where he was going. Just so happened… when he opened his eyes, he noticed some sort-of chicken butt hair styled guy walked past him and he stopped in his tracks. His friend was always avoiding him, he turned around, and the jet black haired guy pace suddenly went faster than his speed a while ago. He decided to call out to him, but found it no use; he broke into a run and went after him. When he caught up with him, he was already panting...

"Sasuke-teme, why did you run away like that?" he whined, Sasuke grimaced. He really can't stand this baka's whining, though he found it amusing. He looked over at him and shrugged his shoulders. Naruto frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, muttered to himself...

"I honestly can't see what my cousin and Sakura-chan, sees in you." Sasuke looked over to him...

"I honestly can't think of a reason also why you still hang around me either." He retorted back, Naruto just smiled at him...

"Haha, me too, me too." And draped one arm over his friends arm, Sasuke as usual started ignoring him, as he was thinking if this day could get any noisier; another loud mouth comes along, with his canine friend...

"Oi Naruto!" he greeted, and went closer to them

"Arff!" His dog reminded him of another presence...

"Oh, sorry I almost forgot. Hi to you Sasuke!" he said happily, he just nodded of acknowledgement...

"So... where are you guys going?" He asked them

"Anywhere as long as the dobe is gone." Sasuke said

"Anywhere Sasuke is going!" Naruto said at the same time, and both sent death glares to each other, Kiba and Akamaru sweat dropped, both were such complete opposites, yet were very much alike in so many ways, he just laughed. They both looked at him, he sighed.

"Really don't mind me guys. I'm just on my way to my sister's clinic. See ya' later!" he waved at them and started to jog towards his sister's clinic. Both males watched his retreating back, Naruto looked over to him and Sasuke again, with Sasuke's words still pondering in his mind. Why was he still with Sasuke? Why were he friends with him in the first place anyway? He just shrugged; maybe it was because it was Sasuke who gave him meaning in his life...

He just smiled and started walking after him once again; Sasuke eyed him from the corner of his eye. He was grinning with no reason, he wondered why. Well, there will always be a time when he could already ask the dobe why he was always grinning. But now, he still needs answers to his own questions. The ones that had haunted him every dawn. He just started walking towards his building, where he was the remaining heir of the Uchiha Corp., and has already taken over. Back at his house he always notices from his room's window, there was always the same family that would always visit his parents. And the girl especially annoyed him, whenever she would look at his window and see him stare at her. She always looked at him with dreamy eyes, which causes him to pull down the drapes of his curtains.

He honestly doesn't like the family itself, his mother would always have a sad look, and as if knowing something he didn't. His brother would send daggers at his father's back when he would greet the visitors, and when catches him staring, would smile back. His father, as always, remains emotionless, and greets them formally. Sends a maid to fetch him, and he would always tell the maid he wasn't feeling well. He would always tell the same excuse, and his family would never even care, not his father anyway. His mother was kind enough to say he shouldn't ignore his father's visitors, and his brother... well, as supportive as always.

_**Later that day**_

At the end of the day, everyone returned to their homes. A teacher, who had just come out of the school's ground, dropped his shoulders suddenly. He definitely regrets why, of all jobs, he even bothered taking up teaching pre-schoolers. He sighed; maybe... it was because he thought it was the easiest job ever. Well, he was wrong; it was the hardest job ever. Sometimes he thinks that being a chauffeur was easier than a teacher. He looked around and saw the barbecue stand of his friend, who was now a famous owner of all barbecue stands around the town nowadays. He walked towards it, and entered, where he was greeted by his old pal, Akamichi Chouji...

"Oi, Shikamaru, and come on pal sit over here with the others!" he invited him over to a very long table, which was composed of Aburame Shino, who was a successful lawyer; Inuzuka Kiba, who was a veterinarian; Uchiha Sasuke, who was the president and owner of the Uchiha Police Force and Corp.; Uzumaki Naruto who was the mayor of Konoha; Rock Lee who was an owner of the very _youthful _dojo in the town; Hyuga Neji who was the president of the Hyuga Martial Arts training and Corp; and yadda, yadda, yadda...

He looked around the shop, and found the three excellent medics of the town and the two fastest pharmacist of the whole town. Hyuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, TenTen, and from the neighbouring town... Sabaku no Temari.

He walked over to the boys table and everyone started conversing already...

"Hey Shika! How's your day at the pre-school?" asked Kiba

"Troublesome." He replied and turned his head over at Shino...

"How are your cases?"

"Successful." He replied and asked Naruto...

"The town's status, Naruto?"

"Still nothing g new, Tsunade-baachan was no help at all!" he whined

"That's what you get for depending on someone old, if I were you I would have chosen someone youthful!" Lee said with fire in his eyes...

"Yeah, yeah we know, how 'bout you Kiba?" Naruto asked him

"Nothing much really, how's your paper work Neji?"

"I don't have paperwork if there is someone to ask about that, it should be Sasuke. He has more paperwork than I." And everyone looked at him...

Sasuke was just staring at the other side of the room. Not really listening to anyone, just looking at the surroundings and whatsoever. He doesn't really mind what would be happening at all really. Just as long it doesn't involve him, and then he's fine with going along with them. He has nothing to hide... _yet_. The others were still staring at him as they waited for him to answer, yet he didn't notice. Neji started whistling, and Shikamaru fell asleep. Lee was still sitting still as he was a while ago; Naruto sighed and went towards Sasuke waving a hand in front of him. Sasuke had finally snapped out of reality. He stared at Naruto...

"What?" he asked with one eyebrow raised, Naruto slouched

"We were asking you whether or not if you are fine with your work?"

"Who would be fine with a work as an investigator?" he asked in an isn't-it-obvious tone

"That's what they were asking for Sasuke." Chouji said as he gave them their orders

"How 'bout you go there and look at their cases, while I serve the table here." Sasuke retorted

"Chill man, chill, don't be so strong, and don't be so fierce for your face will struggle." Kiba said with matching actions, everyone looks at him with confusion...

"What? Those are what the kids say these days." Kiba said

"Sigh, kids these days are so hard to understand." Shikamaru said everyone agreed with him.

The girls were so busy chatting about the boys around thy world, and were too focused on the topic they didn't seem to notice the boys that were across the table. They were going on and on about who has better taste in men and yadda, yadda, yadda…

Hinata though, was feeling left out, didn't feel the need to join or participate in this conversation, and seems to be the only one who noticed the other table. Now as she wasn't paying attention, the girls somehow slowly formed a circle already, and started to play, spin the bottle. Wherever the end pointed would be the one to give the dare, and whoever was pointed at by the other side would be the one to do the dare. And the game began...

'_Spins'_

The first one landed on...

**To be continued...**

**Me: Oh please give me ideas, pretty please! **

**Sasuke: stop sulking**

**Me: -frowns- I don't hear you giving any ideas**

**Sasuke: idc**

**Me:-growls- review please, thank you! I promise I will update "Clash of Fate" which is already finished renovating… and now, "Mixed-up" will be renovated… some chapters in "The Job" will be rewritten and as you can see… I just recently edited "Secrets"… oh and "Of Seas and Of Waves" will be updated also as soon as I can finish the second chapter….**

**Thank you for the wait everyone! :* Aishiteru :3 **


	2. Day Off

**Me: I don't own Naruto at all -_-**

**Sasuke: yeah, we all know that, cause if you did… you'd be drawing… not writing. and it would probably be on the course of a SasuHina… oh and your favourite characters wouldn't die**

**Me: you have a point ****, I really miss-**

**Sasuke: yeah, I know, now go write the story**

**Me: I was mourning a while ago! .**

**Sasuke: I'm sure many people mourned for him, now write**

**Me: fine, anyway, here is your story guys! :D**

Chapter 2:

The bar was filled with noises when they decided to play spin the bottle. There were chattering everywhere. Plates were being laid down on the tables, while people were munching or gulping down food on their plates. Everyone was either busy minding their own business, or were too busy eating to bother to listen. The five girls were all focused on their table… all of their eyes were on the bottle that was spinning…

_Stop…_

The bottle landed on TenTen, sitting opposite of her was Hinata…

"So," Hinata said, "truth… or dare?"

"Truth." TenTen replied. The three girls smirked at Hinata, and Hinata giggled…

"Well, I too, have been meaning to ask you this, Ten… is it true that… you like my cousin Neji?" she said, eyeing TenTen knowingly. TenTen blushed so hard that it matched Hinata's, they all giggled…

"That's unfair!" she pouted at them, Ino wiped a bit of a tear that formed in the corner of her eye…

"Well, is there ever a time the game _truth or dare _had been?" Ino said winking at her, TenTen felt Temari nudge her at the side…

"So? What's your answer?" Temari asked her, "Come on Ten, it's just a simple question of yes or no."

"Yeah, Temari's right you know," Ino said taking a sip from her drink, "Just a yes or no." TenTen sighed in defeat…

"Fine, but you won't tell okay?" she said, sounding unsure of her answer…

"Scout's honour." Sakura said, everyone else nodded in agreement. TenTen gulped and said…

"Yes."

"I knew it! Ha, beat that Sakura!" Ino said, while Sakura just slumped on her chair…

"Why?" Hinata asked them, Ino then sip a bit from her drink and then placed it down on the table…

"It was that time where Sakura and I had one of those petty fights, I told Sakura that TenTen might like Neji, but after getting ignored by Neji a couple of times when she said hi, she said TenTen would never fall for that gay." Ino said and took another sip from her drink. Sakura just placed a palm on her forehead…

"I swear Hinata I was just pissed, I really didn't mean it." Hinata just smiled at her and nodded in understanding…

"Of course you didn't, I know. No worries really." Hinata said, and they both just smiled at each other. Temari clasped her hands together and all eyes were on her,

"Okay Ten, spin the bottle." TenTen took a hold of the bottle and spun it around. After sometime, the bottle then stopped on Ino, sitting opposite of her was Sakura, and she smirked deviously at her…

"You are definitely going to pay for what you said earlier." Sakura said glaring at her, Ino smirked back and returned her glare…

"Bring it on."

"Truth… or… dare?"

"Dare." She immediately answered, Sakura blinked three times…

"Well that was easy okay… I want you… to stand on this table, and gather every guy's attention in this place and tell them what kind of guy you would like." Ino just jaw dropped on her…

"You call that a dare?"

"That was the best I could come up with."

"Ugh, you suck at dares Sakura."

"Just shut up and do the freakin' dare pig."

"Hey!"

"Just do the dare Ino!" Temari said, veins already popping out of her forehead, Ino pouted at her and slumped on her chair…

"You are no fun at all Temari."

"You call bickering like kids in front of us fun?"

"Humph." Ino then stood up from her chair and grabbed her glass. She then climbed up on the table and stood up on it. All eyes then noticed her and turned to see what she was going to do. She then cleared her throat…

"Ahem, may I have your attention everyone." she said out loud and everyone did as they were told, all eyes were glued to her, especially the male species. They couldn't take their eyes off of her luscious body. She wore a black, short fitting skirt that you could clearly see the form of her butt. Her top was a spaghetti strap purple blouse, that showed a great deal of her cleavage, now that her lab coat was now gone…

"Okay, now that I have your attention, who among the males in this place is still single?" almost every guys hands shot up through the air, except for Sasuke of course, who just ignored her and her announcement. He really just wanted to finish his drink. Ino saw him paying her no heed, and then went back down on the table. She then proceeded to walk towards him, who was of course still eyeing his drink…

"Hey Sasuke-kun." She greeted, he just nodded in acknowledgement. "Why aren't you raising your hand?"

"Not interested." He replied plainly, taking another sip from his drink…

"Well, I didn't ask whoever was interested now didn't I?" she said, "I asked whoever was still single… unless of course you are in a secret relationship that we haven't heard about." She said, smirking flirtatiously at him. He sighed and placed his drink down, and raised his hand…

"Happy?" he grumbled, he should have never agreed to go to this bar tonight…

"Most certainly!" she squealed, he just rolled his eyes…

"Just finish your announcement and hurry." He grunted, she pouted but smiled at him…

"Okay!" she then went back to her table and he placed his hand back down. "Well, as you all might be curious about, I too am single." She heard some whistles around the room and a few yes's. "Well, I am currently looking for a guy that is not a coward. That's all… and most preferably sweet and good looking okay?" she said winking at the crowd, she heard some approval from the crowd…

"Oh and by the way, the name's Yamanaka Ino, so if you are planning to court me you can always buy flowers at my shop." she added and sat quickly back down. Once she was seated, the bar went back to being noisy and minded their own businesses once again. Sakura rolled her eyes at her. "What?" she asked Sakura…

"You practically made it more general… like you made your type a Sasuke-type." Sakura said, Ino just shrugged the comment off…

"Well, Sasuke is _my _type. Plus, I bet that people will come to my flower shop tomorrow."

"That will never happen." Sakura retorted…

"You're just jealous because Sasuke-kun didn't talk to you today." She replied and then took the bottle and spun it. It then stopped right at Hinata. Hinata blushed, and Temari spoke…

"Truth or dare?" Ino pouted…

"I wanted to ask her."

"Well that sucks because I asked her first." Temari then looked back at Hinata, "So?"

"Hm," she thought for a bit, dare could be exciting, on the other hand, she might be tasked to do something embarrassing, but truth… probably a much safer choice, "I choose truth." She said and smiled at them. Temari thought for a little while…

"You know, we really don't know what you see in Naruto… so if Naruto did not exist… what type of guy would you have preferred?" Temari asked her. That left Hinata thinking. If Naruto did not exist… then what would she have preferred? If she would answer someone with a blonde hair, and an energetic personality then that would exactly mean Naruto, right? So she thought about it more, she then straightened up…

"If he did not exist at all… then maybe I would have preferred someone quite private, sweet, strong… and of course good looking." She said blushing…

"Private? Why the hell do you want someone private?" Temari asked, Hinata just fidgeted, she was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable…

"Well… I don't know, I think I just like it better if he and I have a lot of time just for the two of us." She replied blushing profusely at them, and still continued to fidget more. Temari decided to end her agony, seeing how her question was making Hinata quite uncomfortable…

"Alright, spin the bottle Hina." Temari said, Hinata nodded at her and did as she was told. The bottle then stopped at Sakura…

"Dare." She quickly said…

"I didn't even get to ask you yet." Ino quickly said

"You're still going to ask it anyway."

"Humph," Ino said, sticking her tongue out at Sakura…

"Fine, kiss Naruto on the cheek if you would give him a chance if Sasuke didn't exist!" she dared. Sakura's eyes widened at her dare…

"Tha-that's n-not fair!" Sakura said…

"Unless of course you are too chicken that he'll reject you." Ino said smirking at her…

"Am not!"

"Prove it… do the dare."

"Fine!" Sakura hissed, and stood up, and started to make her way towards Naruto, but then something struck Sakura, and smirked to herself, "Just so you know Ino… if Hinata gets hurt then it's all on you." She said, smirking at Ino. Ino's eyes widened and slammed her palm at her forehead…

"Shoot… I'm sorry, you know what let's just change it to truth." Ino offered, and Sakura nodded…

"So?"

"Yeah, maybe I would… but Sasuke exists, so don't worry Hina, I won't steal Naruto from you." Sakura said winking at Hinata, who blushed. As Sakura and Ino continued to bicker, she couldn't help but notice the table where Naruto sat. He finally achieved his dream… he was finally recognized by everyone in the village, and he even got to follow his father's footsteps. Sure, he and she had some times together, but it was still not enough for him to finally see her more than just a friend… he still has his eyes on Sakura.

"Okay, so do you have a thing for teachers then?" TenTen, asked Temari. They both were having a chat, since of course, the game truth or dare was already forgotten, and Sakura and Ino were already getting into a heated fight…

"Yeah, a bit… I think, you see back when I was in high school I had a crush on one of my teachers."

"What happened?"

"I failed."

"Eh?"

"Uh-huh," Temari said taking a sip from her drink, "I only focused on him, not really on his lessons, so…" she finished and gulped down the rest of her drink…

"Rough year I suppose." TenTen said, Temari just nodded. Hinata just proceeded to look at the other table and steal glances at Naruto. Of course, she failed to see Sasuke stealing glances at her too…

He was seated somewhere between Naruto, and Sai. And if he looked directly straight up ahead of him, he would have a clear view of Hinata. He knew she was looking at Naruto, who was busy whining about having to have to go to Ichiraku's while eating Chouji's barbecue at the same time. Sasuke just rolled his eyes at them, and his glass had gotten another refill. He looked at the source of the drink and saw it was Neji who poured over some drink on his glass…

"I really shouldn't be drinking too much." He said to Neji

"I know." Neji said, and poured some to his own glass…

"Then why did you give me more?"

"Because you haven't had too much yet."

"And you would know because?"

"I use to work for the police too Sasuke, until Hinata pleaded for me to stop because she fears for my safety."

"I know, you used to examine drivers for alcohol consumption yeah?"

"That's right."

"What's so dangerous about that?"

"The drunkards would never admit they drank too much alcohol… that made them more aggressive towards me… they always do."

"You were just doing your job."

"Apparently… our job has many occupational hazards." Neji said, and finally took a sip from his drink. Sasuke finally took his glass and decided to just drink one more glass…

"Okay, just one more." He said, and finally drank. Neji seemed please, "So… what happened?" he asked him

"Hm?" Neji said, unsure what he was asking about…

"Why did Hinata fear for your safety?"

"Oh that, quite of a long story… almost got me killed you see. You were at Otogakure that time. That was when I quit."

"No wonder I never saw you around the station. But I did look at your records, that's how I knew you quit."

"Have you looked further at my documents then?"

"No, I got called for duty so when I came back I forgot about that." Neji just nodded. All of a sudden Sasuke's phone rang, "Excuse me." Sasuke said and got up from his chair and walked outside of the noisy bar. Once he was out, he took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID…

_Itachi…_

"Hello?" Sasuke said, once he answered the call…

"_She said yes." _Itachi said quite enthusiastically

"Who said yes?" he asked a bit confused

"_Hana."_

"Kiba's sister?" he asked

"_Hai."_

"You finally popped the question then?" he asked in an amused tone.

"_Yeah… where are you?"_

"At Chouji's barbecue… why?" there was a long pause before Itachi had spoken up once again

"_Help me out bro… otousama's gonna have a fit once I break the news to them." _ He said, and Sasuke immediately knew what he meant. From the start their father was against the relationship, but Itachi went to pursue the relationship anyway because he loved her that he was willing to break free from his family. Of course, Sasuke was a bit offended of his brother's choice but he had to accept that sooner or later he would have to part with Itachi… so he took his brother's side…

"I'm certain he would… no worries, I've got your back." He said, determined to support his brother, like he always does…

"_You always have… somehow I wish I have your back whenever otousama intervenes with you and your affairs."_

"Sigh, you are the one who always had my back. I'm on my way Itachi."

"_Thanks." _And he hung up on him. Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He went back inside and saw that they were still having some fun. And it seemed as if, Kiba still had not gotten the news. He didn't have to worry about it, he's quite certain that when he comes back home, his sister will tell him. He made his way to the table, and gulped down the rest of his drink…

"Yo Sasuke, what took you so long?" Naruto asked him, he just shrugged at him…

"Later guys, something came up back at the house." Naruto pouted…

"Something always comes up at your family Sasuke, tell me what in the world is your family problems about anyway?" Sasuke just held Naruto's gaze, although he did not utter a single word, Naruto got the message. This was the sole reason why he still stuck up with Naruto… aside from his brother, Naruto could understand him…

"Alright, I get it." Naruto said and finally made him leave, just as he was about to go, his wrist was grabbed by Neji. He raised his brows at him…

"Nani?"

"I'm going home late tonight; I still have to finish some things at the dojo… could you accompany Hinata to the manor?" Neji said. As much as he would like to decline, he was in a hurry and found it quite troublesome to not accept the request. Besides, the Hyuga manor and the Uchiha mansion somehow lived nearby… even if they do reside in each opposite side of a street; he still considered it as close.

"Alright, but you owe me."

"Arigatou." And he finally let go of him. Sasuke saw that Hinata was already waiting right by the door, and he made his way towards her…

"Going already Hyuga?" he asked, still looking for his keys, she looked at him and blushed, she nodded. Once he finally found his car keys in his coat pocket, he took her small hand gently and tugged her along…

"Come on."

"A-ano, I-I'm going home w-with-"

"Neji, I know, he asked me to take you home since he has to go back to the dojo for something."

"A-ah, I-I see, well then y-you don't have to I can go by myself." She said, he stopped right beside his car and looked at her…

"Are you serious?"

"Ex-excuse me?" she asked rather confused at him…

"Look, I know you are shy and can probably handle yourself but every once in a while Hyuga, give yourself some credit because then you might actually figure out why Neji wouldn't let you walk home alone." He said and seated her inside his car. Hinata just sighed in defeat, even if she knew that Neji just wanted to make sure she gets home safely, she still couldn't quite understand Sasuke…

'_Give myself some credit because then I'll understand why Neji-nii wants me to go home with a bodyguard?' _she thought, _'What does that even mean?' _

"Something troubling you Hyuga?" Sasuke asked her, eyes still looking at the road…

"I just can't figure out what you are trying to say Sasuke-kun." She said meekly, at this Sasuke looked at her. He looked back once again at the road…

"You'll find out soon." He then finally saw the Hyuga manor, "Well here's your stop." He said and pulled over. Hinata unstrapped herself from the seatbelt. Once she got out she bid Sasuke goodbye and he just nodded. Once he was sure she was in already, he left and continued to the Uchiha mansion. Sometimes Hinata was so naïve, he thought…

He finally reached the Uchiha mansion and got greeted by one of the maids in the house. He got in and went directly to his own room to wash-up. Besides, Itachi still wasn't home. After he got out from the bathroom he got dressed and plopped himself down on the bed. His body was aching with all the cases that kept coming in the office earlier. Missing cats, stolen jewels and all, hell there was even a gang war that happened two blocks away from the station, luckily it only reached to severely injure…

He decided to get a little nap, but after that there was a knock on his door…

"What?" he asked not interested nor did he bother to let the maid come in…

"Fugaku-sama would like to have a word with you in his office Sasuke-sama." The maid answered, he groaned…

'_Just when I decided to get some eye shut.'_ He then got up from bed, "Tell him I'll be down in a sec." once he heard the footsteps go away, he stood up from his bed and got out of his room. He proceeded downstairs and knocked on his father's office door…

"Come in." he faintly heard from the other side. He turned the knob and found his father on his desk, reading some papers…

"Ah Sasuke, you're finally here." His father said, looking up finally from the papers he was reading. His father motioned for him to sit down and he walked in and sat on the chair in front of his father's desk. He wondered what it was this time, but whatever it was, he wished it would be quick so that he would be able to take some nap already…

"You must be wondering why I called you here." His father started

"Yeah, and I am wishing it'll be quick." He replied, his father sighed, and took off his glasses

"Have you ever thought about-" but before he could finish, Mikoto burst in the office directly. And Sasuke once again found himself thanking his mother for saving him from a talk with his father…

"What is it Mikoto?" Fugaku said, his wife beamed at him…

"Itachi is back, and he said he has some good news. He wants to have an audience with you." Mikoto said, and pulled Sasuke up from the chair and led him outside, leaving Fugaku alone in his office. He sighed and got up from his chair. Somehow he had a feeling that tonight would not end well. He then finally walked out of his office and proceeded to go to the living room where he found his family already seated at the sofa…

"So, what's the good news?" Fugaku said once he reached the living room. He then sat himself beside Mikoto and took her hand in his. His wife just smiled at him sweetly and rested her head on his shoulders. He turned to look at his two sons; Sasuke was seated right behind his father and was now currently eating a tomato that he probably took from the kitchen. Itachi on the other hand was seated right in front of them…

"Well, what is this good news you wish to tell us Itachi?" Fugaku asked, his attention now fully on his eldest son…

"Well, I finally asked Hana to marry me." He said smiling, Mikoto gasped…

"She said yes?" he just nodded at her, Mikoto squealed and clasped her hands together. She then went towards Itachi and kissed both of his cheeks, "I'm so happy for you! So when is the wedding?" she asked him…

"We are still planning that out." He said, Mikoto hugged him once again. Sasuke now came behind him and patted him at the back. Fugaku just said there on the couch, his fists clenched. Itachi then looked at him. Fugaku finally stood up and looked at Itachi…

"Seems like I have no say in it… I'll be in my office." He said and finally turned away from them. Itachi then felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Mikoto's…

"Go talk to him." She said, smiling gently at him, "I'm sure he would understand."

"I beg to differ." Sasuke said and turned away, headed for the kitchen again. Mikoto just sighed and turned back to Itachi, gesturing him to follow his father before she walked after Sasuke. Itachi took a deep breath and went towards his father's office. He could hear his mother scolding Sasuke for being the sole reason why they run out of tomatoes earlier than expected. He finally reached his father's door and knocked on it gently three times. He heard then a faint 'come in'. He opened the door and saw his father rubbing his temples on the table…

"Are you okay?" he asked his father. Fugaku finally looked up and saw him…

"If you call finding out my son would settle down with a low kind of girl okay, then yes I am okay." He said, "What possessed you to even go that far Itachi?"

"I thought you'd be more willing now… we've been through this before otousama, I love her."

"You just can't throw everything away just for some girl." He hissed

"She's not just any girl-"

"There are more suitable girls."

"I'm sure there are… but none of them like her. Besides, I am not going to throw everything away."

"Really? Are you sure?" he said, "Girls like her would be clingy… sooner or later she'll demand that you give up your position!"

"Is that what you are worried about?" Itachi said, "Me leaving the job? Whatever choice I make is mine alone! Don't you ever forget that."

"You marry her and our relationship will never be the same!"

"It doesn't matter… I'd rather lose my job than lose her." Itachi then started to leave the office but before he could get out, he heard Fugaku say…

"Would you then rather lose me than her?" Itachi whipped his head around and came face to face with him once more. He could see that his father was offended, but so was he. How could his father… his own flesh and blood ask him to choose between two persons that he loves? Itachi didn't feel like answering the question, so he left it unanswered and went to his room. Fugaku sat back down on his chair and rubbed his temples once more. The phone then rang…

"Hello?" he said as he picked it up…

"_Well?" _said the person on the other line…

"I haven't told him yet."

"_You better make sure that nothing in this arrangement of ours will change, or I'm pulling out my offer."_

"Is there no other way?" he asked, quite hoping there was…

"_There are always other ways Uchiha-san, but marriage is more certain. Goodbye." _And the person hung up on Fugaku. Once again, Fugaku found the night more depressing than the rest of the nights he had had. Why did it have to be tonight? Why did Itachi have to ask his girlfriend for a wedding now that he knows what was coming? Was it to prevent him from having the deal? If he would not accept then his police force would surely be weak. They had advance weapons; their medicines were effective and faster than their own. If he would deny them of this union, then they would have war up on their sleeves…

"What am I going to do with you?" he said to himself and looked outside of his window. It was getting late; he probably should get some rest and leave everything else for tomorrow…

**(~L~) the next day**

Hinata woke up when she heard her alarm. She then begrudgingly reached out for it and slammed it quiet. Once it was off, she rolled over and laid flat on her back on the bed and stared at the ceiling…

'_Great… I'll never be able to get back to sleep now.' _She thought. She was supposed to sleep in late today; after all, it was her day off. She then sat up from her bed and walked towards her bathroom. Once she finally discarded all of her clothes she then stepped inside her shower and let the water flow down on her. Once she was done taking a bath, she got clothed and went downstairs for some breakfast. She was greeted by an empty table…

She sighed and made her way to the refrigerator and scanned its contents. Once her eyes landed on a plastic container she opened it and took two cinnamon rolls and placed them on a plate. She then went towards the microwave and heated it. Once it was done, she started to eat. Once she was finished she went and brushed her teeth and went out of the manor.

She breathed in the fresh air once she had stepped foot outside the gates and decided to go for a morning stroll. She passed by the Uchiha mansion and noted that it was awfully quiet… then again, it always was. The Uchihas had always been private despite of being in charge of the police force. They always kept to themselves, even with all the cases they've been handling. She was quite amazed that they were still able to maintain a quiet life despite all the danger they were going through…

She shook her head and decided to continue on her stroll, which was until she caught a sudden movement on the corner of her eye on the second floor of the Uchiha mansion. When she turned to look, she didn't see anything at all. She thought it odd, but proceeded to go anyway. Once she passed the Uchiha mansion, she failed to see to black eyes staring at her as she was walking away…

Sasuke had woken up at three in the morning. He didn't know why he woke up that early, but when he tried to sleep once again, he couldn't go back to sleep. So he just stared out of his window for almost two hours until he saw Hinata walking on the pavement. Funny, he always thought on day offs she would sleep in late. Then his phone rang, he groaned in frustration…

'_What is it this time?' _he said and walked away from the window. He then picked up his phone on the desk and looked at the caller ID…

_Juugo…_

He sighed and picked it up, and walked back to the window. She was already walking away…

"What is it Juugo?" he said through the phone

"_I'm sorry to trouble you this early Sasuke-sama, but about that case on the gang war yesterday…"_

"Yeah, what about it?"

"_The folks of the teens are demanding that they should be handled…"_

"Handled as…"

"_Hai, they want them to be imprisoned."_ Sasuke ran a hand through his hair and pinched the bridge on his nose. If the parents of the teens in the first place didn't want their kids being sent to a hospital then they should have kept a closer watch on them…

"How old are they anyway?" he asked

"_Around 18 or so…"_

"As of now, we'll get them under house arrest, maybe that'll knock some sensed in them, and maybe with the parents as well."

"_Hai… ano, there is also the matter of the press…"_

"What about them?"

"_They wanna interview the involved people."_

"The people are in the ICU for serious injuries! No they will not get an interview until we get to interrogate them, got it?"

"_Hai."_

"Well then proceed." And he hung up. The press were really getting on his nerves always, they don't know when they would stop and start. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair and decided that maybe he won't be able to get that desired day off now…

He then got out of his room and went downstairs. He opened the fridge, and scanned the contents. He growled when he remembered that yesterday he ate the last tomato. He closed it and took out his car keys. He then went to the garage and started his engine and then drove out of the Uchiha mansion. He was going to the station and does some more filing and was going to make sure that the press would forget all about the gang war yesterday.

As he arrived at the Uchiha Police Station, the guard on duty opened up the gates and allowed him to enter. He parked his car and went straight inside the building. He proceeded to his office and was greeted by Suigetsu who was sitting on his chair drinking coffee and Juugo over the phone taking down notes. Suigetsu noticed his presence and stood up from the chair, still drinking his coffee. Sasuke made his way behind his desk and sat on the chair and started reading the reports that were on his desk.

"How's it going?" he asked them both

"Hectic." Suigetsu plainly replied to him

"How could it not be? You've been sitting all this time." Sasuke said, still reading the reports. Suigetsu just shrugged his shoulders.

"I've been in here for a while handling the phone calls until Juugo came with a bunch of folders." He replied and took another sip from his coffee, "Besides, I mostly finish the easy cases so…"

"I'm left with the difficult ones." Sasuke replied and started sorting out on his desk. Juugo was finally done with the phone call and turned to them. Juugo got the cup of coffee on sasuke's desk and drank it…

"I thought it was your day off?" he asked Sasuke. Sasuke just nodded at them…

"Then why the hell are you on duty?" Suigetsu asked him in awe. Sasuke still didn't look up from his papers…

"Can't sleep, besides if I hadn't come today, then there'd be loads of cases to be handled by tomorrow, and I know that Suigetsu is a bit lazy to handle them." Suigetsu nodded in agreement and now turned around headed for the door…

"Oh and by the way Sasuke," Suigetsu said before he completely got out, "We need one more personnel in this team of yours." Suigetsu said. Sasuke then stopped all the paperwork, and ran both of his hands through his hair. Juugo just came up beside him and placed a hand at his shoulder…

"You had breakfast yet?" he shook his head, "What do you want then? I'll send someone to get breakfast for you." He said. Sasuke stopped for a while and then answered…

"Tomatoes." He said. Juugo just nodded and then left his office. Yep, that's all Sasuke definitely needed…

Tomatoes…

**(~L~) later that day**

Hinata had been walking around the village and so far there was still nothing that she thought was interesting. She decided to go and grab some lunch first. It was already noon, so she then turned towards the nearest food stall there was…

Ichiraku's Ramen…

She smiled and sat on one of its stools and ordered some miso ramen. After some time, the bowl was already in front of her and she started to eat. She wondered where she should go next… to the hospital? No, she's on a day off, so she should have this day all to herself for now. How about Konoha University? No, it's still very early to pick Hanabi up from school… the park then perhaps? Yes… that'll be perfect!

After she finished the ramen and paid for it, she then started making her way towards the park. It was good that today had a good weather, or it'll be too hot or too cold for her liking. Once she reached the park she went near the edge and watched the beach. People were having fun and swimming on it. She smiled for a while, until the noise around her started to be loud. There were many people now, which indicated that they may already be on lunch break.

She moved to a more secluded place and ended up in the mini forest in the park. It was surrounded by trees, but it was beautiful and very peaceful. She then decided to stay there for some time until Hanabi was going home already. As she was going to sit down on the ground she heard some footsteps nearby. She turned around and met a pair of black eyes…

"Sasuke-kun… you startled me." She said, blushing a bit. Sasuke just shrugged at her and then sat down on the ground and leaned on the tree. She did the same, but sat opposite from him…

"So… what brings you here Sasuke-kun?" she asked him, he just shrugged once again at her and took something out from his paper bag… it was a tomato…

"Lunch?" she asked him hesitantly he nodded and munched on it quietly… he seemed to be enjoying it, and wondered how many tomatoes were in his bag. He continued to eat and she just decided to close her eyes. It was clear that the Uchiha wasn't one to talk too much unless there was a need for it…

"How about you?" he said out of blue, she opened her eyes and looked at him, "How about you? What brings you here?" he repeated. She just shrugged at him…

"I guess it was the scenery…" she said and looked around. He just nodded at her and crumpled the paper bag which was now empty. He then stood up from his position and looked at his watch…

"You heading home afterwards Hyuga?" she paused for a while and nodded at him. He then nodded at her once again, "Any other things you are supposed to do then?" he asked her, she shook her head…

"Well then, let's get going." He said and offered a hand to her, she accepted it hesitantly…

"Ano… don't you have work?" she asked him, he shrugged his shoulders at her again…

"It's my day off." He said and they both walked towards the parking area. She got in the passenger's seat and he got in the driver's seat. The drive all the way home was quiet, and Hinata was getting uncomfortable. This was the second time that she found herself riding home inside Sasuke's car. She wondered how she ended up inside it anyway when she was planning on meeting Hanabi outside of her school…

She looked inside the car and saw the clock… it was almost time for Hanabi to return home. Maybe she should just wait for Hanabi to come home. Once they reached her home she bid Sasuke goodbye and thanked him for the ride home. Once Sasuke was out of sight she then went inside the gates and got greeted by the guards. She made her way inside the house and up to her room. She then decided to take a nice warm bath and get dinner ready…

After she git her clothes on, she went down stairs and got greeted by her cousin Neji…

"Hey." He greeted and gulped down his water, Hinata nodded and smiled at him, "How's day off?" he asked

"It was nice."

"I see…" he said and poured more water to his glass. Hinata then started to open some cupboards, looking for something to cook. Once she got all her ingredients ready, she started to cook them. Neji just sat down at the table and continued to drink more water…

**(~L~) Konoha University**

School had been boring once again for Hanabi, but she was lucky that she got to talk with Konohamaru today. She smiled to herself as she remembered the talk that they had at lunch. As she was fixing her locker she felt someone behind her. She quickly turned around and saw Konohamaru…

"Aw man, I was going to surprise you." He whined, she just chuckled at him and turned back to her locker…

"So, what do you need?" she asked him, he just shrugged his shoulders…

"There's a new opening of an amusement park tomorrow and Moegi and Udon are busy so… I just wanted to ask you if you are free then maybe we could go there." He said nonchalantly, she blushed a bit at the thought that he wanted her to go with him…

"Yeah, sure." She replied, refusing to look at him still, but she felt him smile at her reply…

"Okay!" he cheered, "Let's walk back home shall we, ice princess?" he said. Suddenly all her good mood disappeared at the mention of her famous nickname. She turned around with a book in hand and whacked him in the head…

"Seriously," she said clenching the book, "I don't know why I put up with you at all." She stated and dragged him by the collar…

**Me: There you go! A happy and prosperous New Year to you all guys! Oh, and let me greet Gai-sensei a happy happy birthday!**

**Gai-sensei:-tears rolling down his face- oh what a youthful greeting! Arigatou gozaimashita hpnarutardsjedipirate1234!**

**Sasuke: yeah, yeah, whatever… remember your whole year is packed with schedules**

**Me: ToT I know! Anyway please review and tell me what you think! **


	3. Interference

**Me: hi guys! hpnarutardsjedipirate1234 is back… in the "Secrets" mode… okay, I know I just published this new story, and you are probably still wondering what that was about, but the next chapter will be updated… soon. Right now we are here for "Secrets" so let's begin reading shall we…**

**Sasuke: my sentiments exactly now go and write the third chapter already…**

**Me: patience dear one… I'm still getting my guide!**

**Sasuke: -whispers to himself-this is going to take a while**

**Me: and while you're at it, kindly do the disclaimer for me…**

**Sasuke: hpnarutardsjedipirate1234 does not own me, Hinata or any other Naruto character… Masashi Kishimoto does though… and she's still bummed about the whole Neji thing…**

**Me: don't forget the chapter after the whole Neji thing…**

**Sasuke: yeah, that too…**

**Me: finally I have it… now on to the story! :D**

Chapter 3:

Hanabi had been at it all night. She didn't know what to wear for her little "getaway" with Konohamaru. She was just too excited and was probably thinking too much already. She sighed dejectedly and groaned when she still couldn't find anything nice to wear. She then heard a soft knock on her door…

"Who is it?" she said, and then the door clicked…

"It's me." Hinata said as she entered her sister's room. It was a mess, a complete mess. Her clothes and things were scattered everywhere and Hinata almost tripped on some of her sister's shoes… she finally reach her sister and raised an eyebrow at her…

"Sorry, it's just that… I couldn't find anything to wear." She replied…

"Goodness Hanabi, what on earth are you trying to impress in your school, your teachers? If father knew this then-"

"Ew, neechan, I don't dig older guys okay?" she said, clarifying her sister's confusion…

"Good because I don't want my sister to date someone who's even older than I am."

"Never." She said, "Well, any word of advice?" she asked her sister. Hinata just eyed her pitifully…

"I don't know much about clothes Hanabi, you know that, but," she said, "If you want to look good in school today then you should probably start off with something that's comfortable okay? I'm off to work." Hinata said and left Hanabi's room. Hanabi just stayed there squatted on the floor. She was surrounded by her clothes, and she was sitting in the middle of it. She took a quick scan and finally saw the perfect outfit…

Meanwhile, as Hinata had walked out of her house, she silently walked to the hospital. She passed by the pharmacy and checked her supplies. It was her daily routine to make sure she had all the supplies in case of any emergency. She walked in the hospital and was greeted by the guards and nurses she passed by. She finally reached her office and laid her working bag beside her and she put on her coat and placed stethoscopes around her neck. She tied her hair into a neat bun, and let some hair dangle on her face. She pulled out some notebooks from her drawer and began to check her schedule…

She sighed; her patient was going to be here any moment now. She was a paediatrician… she fancied little children, she even put up her own day care centre and from time to time she visits them to make sure they are healthy and well. She then heard a knock on her door…

"Come in." she said, and in walked a young man with a child holding on tightly to his hand. She raised her eyebrows, the child she knew, but the man she didn't he was new to her, and she was really expecting to talk to the parents of the child. She sighed and gathered up the file of the child and she gently took the child from the man who was eyeing her oddly, she noted. She then placed the kid on a tall stool and began to check up on him…

"How's my nephew doing doc?" said the man…

"You're his uncle?" she asked surprisingly, he just nodded and smiled charmingly at her. Now Hinata knew why the man was here. He then scooted closer to them, pretending he was just checking up on the kid… seems to her the child and the uncle had rehearsed because the child was trying hard not to smile at his uncle's advances. Before he could advance any further though someone on the door suddenly cleared their throat…

"Ahem." The three of them stared at the door and saw none other than Sasuke… he was at the door of Hinata's office and was staring blankly at them. It was pretty difficult in what was happening inside Sasuke's head, because he too does not know why he had stopped here in the first place…

"Uchiha-sama!" the man said and saluted at him, immediately he found an excuse with his actions…

"Shizuki-san, am I correct?" Sasuke said, gesturing at him

"Hai!" he immediately answered, trying to impress Hinata, who mentally rolled her eyes at his display…

"You were the one that was first to interfere right in the gang war two days ago?" Sasuke said, and the officer nodded, "I need you to give more details about the incident, go to the station and then knock on my office. Tell Juugo I sent you." He said and almost immediately Shizuki dashed out of the room, leaving his nephew who was still in Hinata's care…

They locked eyes for a moment and Hinata broke off her gaze, feeling her cheeks heat up. She proceeded to check on the child instead, resuming on with her previous work…

"I'm surprised to see you here Sasuke-kun, you aren't even scathed. Was there something you needed?"

"Hai, I came here to check up on the teens that are in the ICU." He said, still leaning on the doorpost, Hinata was becoming nervous…

"U-um, were you finished then?"

"Yeah," he said, still standing there unmoving. Hinata looked at him for a while, hoping he'd catch on her unvoiced question. Fortunately Sasuke did understand and gestured to the child sitting in front of her…

"His uncle left him, so I'm taking the child to the station once you're done." Hinata immediately blushed, forgetting about the uncle so quickly, she even forgot that the child was there, waiting for her to finish. Once she was done, she set the child down on the floor and Sasuke walked in grabbing the child gently by the hand and dragged him out slowly. Once the door finally closed, it was only then that Hinata realized that Sasuke actually help her escape a while ago…

She groaned and rushed out of her office, just in time to see Sasuke almost at the elevator…

"Sasuke!" she called out, he stopped and stared at her…

"I was wo-wondering if you would like to have l-lunch wi-with me la-later on as a-a thank you." She said stuttering. It wasn't everyday she invite people to lunch… and it wasn't also everyday she was going to have lunch with a Sasuke Uchiha. She was beginning to think that he mistook her invitations as one of those excuses so his fangirls could have a go at him… she mentally shivered at the thought of her trying to seduce Sasuke…

Sasuke contemplated for a bit, once the elevator arrived, he stared at her…

"Sure, I'll be here at 12 noon to pick you up." And he entered the elevator along with the child. Hinata sighed in relief and went back to her office…

**(~L~) In Suna**

He was now currently at the market, trying to find anything to give his grandma a present. It wasn't his grandma's birthday, nor was there any celebration. He just thought that maybe he should bring back some souvenir for the woman that had raised him up ever since his parents died. He scanned through the jewelleries; still none was fascinating for him. He then looked at next, a rack of clothes; none were fitting for his grandmamma…

He moved on to the next store. It was filled with antiques, and everything there seemed spooky for him. Yet he shrugged the feeling off and proceeded inside… on a counter though was a man, just his age, looking bored over at the counter. His hair was silver, and it was nicely combed. He was wearing a necklace, where there was a triangle inside a circle…

"Ohayo." He said to the smug looking cashier…

"Yo." He replied back, he peered at the nametag… although slightly smudged; he could decipher what the letters were…

"Um… Hidan-san, I was wondering if you have anything here that could fascinate me." He said, Hidan eyed him curiously, as if trying to tell him if he was actually serious about letting him pick things in the store. After a long stare at each other, Hidan finally broke off his gaze and sighed in defeat… he went inside and muttered a few curses about rich people and life being unfair… he waited for a while until Hidan came back with a dusty thing in his hands…

"There, if you look at that you'll be fascinated red-head." Hidan said, and the guy glared at him…

"It's Sasori."

"Yeah, whatever, you going to buy that or what?" not wanting to be there any longer, he paid for the thing and didn't even bother to look at it. He walked out of the store and got the thing wrapped in cloth. Once he reached his hotel room, he then took it out and wiped the dust off. He almost threw it when he figured out it was a mirror. He should have known what that Hidan meant. He sighed and just washed it off clean…

He brushed the sides off clean and gently, careful not to break it. Once he was finished cleaning it, he wiped it with some towel and looked at it for a while. All in all it wasn't that bad he thought, the mirror was small, but it had some intricate designs on its sides. He set it down and started to look for something to wrap it with. He went into his room and then started to scatter some of the papers and art materials he had brought with him…

When he finally found something that was able to go with the mirror, he heard something crash in the kitchen. He quickly got up on his feet and stared at the scattered knives on the floor. He quickly took a quick scan around his place and saw there was no place to hide. He then picked the knife holder from the floor and arranged the knives neatly… but he was surprised to see that there was a missing knife…

He then scanned the floor again; still he couldn't find that little knife. Where could it have been? Once again he scanned the area, making sure there was really no intruder. While he was busy scanning the area, he missed to even look at the mirror, besides, it wasn't touched, it wasn't really important… but then again even the little things must be looked at because sometimes those little things are the answer to some unanswered questions… because a shadow moved in the reflection of the mirror, and it reflected that the little knife was right at the ceiling… sticking to it…

However… that was only the reflection… but it was suddenly pulled away and was quickly hidden when Sasori came back and took the mirror…

He didn't understand how his set of knives would suddenly be knocked down. The window wasn't open… there was no animals with him… most of all, he just checked the set of knives before he left and when he returned… the set was complete. So why was the little knife missing? He laid the mirror down on the floor and decided to wrap it instead. He'll just deal about that missing knife in the morning, and maybe he'd ask some of his neighbours that are usually around in the apartment…

**(~L~) Uchiha Mansion**

Fugaku had been sitting in his office all day now, worrying about that deal he had made and how he should say it to Sasuke. He let out a sigh and stared at the clock… it was already one o' clock in the afternoon. He felt his stomach grumble; he got up from his seat and walked out of his office. He was greeted by the maids and he sat on the dining table. He was then served food and all and he proceeded to eat.

Halfway through finishing, the phone rang. He placed his chopsticks down and stood up. As he was almost reaching the phone, it ended up with a voicemail instead. Fugaku sighed, and was about to turn away when he heard some vulgar language…

"_**Oi bastard, it's me Suigetsu, get down here! I know you are on lunch break but don't go ignoring me and Juugo! I'm going to have to hire just a random somebody if you aren't going to hire a personnel yet. I already told you, things here are hectic. Beep." **_Fugaku's eyebrows twitched at hearing the way Sasuke's being called at, for him, he thinks that Suigetsu was the bastard anyway. But then an idea had suddenly struck him…

They needed other personnel in Sasuke's office. This could be a perfect opportunity for him! He then quickly made his way to his office and got ready to meddle with Sasuke's personal personnel. Sasuke never liked him for meddling in with his own affairs, but Fugaku can't help it. Sasuke was just too easy to meddle with. Itachi had everything planned out, while Sasuke was well… impromptu. And that was what made Sasuke easy to meddle with…

He then got the telephone and started to dial a number…

It rang a few times before the other line picked it up…

"_Hello?"_

"It me." Fugaku said

"_Ah, Fugaku-san, I take it you told him already?"_

"I haven't yet… but I think I know a way in how to make them meet."

"_Oh? Pray, do tell."_

"My son is in need of another personnel… I was wondering if your daughter was up to it?" he asked, there was a pause for a moment before he finally answered…

"_She'll take it." _And he hung up on Fugaku. He sighed in relief, for now his problem was temporarily solved. He didn't want to force Sasuke into this arrangement… but his hand was forced to … he had no other choice. He finally got ready some papers and then dialled another number…

"_Yo! Suigetsu speaking here!" _Fugaku flinched at the loudness of his voice, he cleared his throat…

"You were looking for an extra member in your team?" he asked…

"_Uh… is this the bast- I mean Uchiha-sama?"_

"Hai." He then heard in the background…

"_Oi Juugo, it's the bastard's daddy." _Fugaku narrowed his eyes, _"Hai, Uchiha-sama, we were."_

"Don't hire anyone." He said

"_Eh? Why?"_

"Because I already have someone for the job." And he hung up.

Meanwhile in the station, Juugo and Suigetsu just stared at the now disconnected phone. They both exchanged glances at one another before Suigetsu placed the phone down and sat back on Sasuke's chair and began filing out more of the reports…

"What'd the geezer say?" Juugo asked, now reading some new reports that were just in. Suigetsu shrugged as he sorted out the files…

"He said he has someone for the extra pair of hands already."

"That fast?" Suigetsu nodded at him, "Wonder who could it be?"

"Don't care, as long as it'll get the work done faster." Suigetsu said, Juugo looked at him…

"You're not going to tell Sasuke aren't you?"

"Tell him? Why the hell would I tell him?"

"So that he'll be informed?"

"Nah… I like it better when he's clueless." Suigetsu said and Juugo sweat dropped. Sasuke wasn't going to like it at all the moment he finds out his father hired someone already before he could even screen the one being hired. Sasuke just had certain standards, and one of it was that it's not supposed to be a girl…

"How does Sasuke even put up with the old geezer anyway?" Juugo asked Suigetsu. Suigetsu straightened up and paused for a while, thinking about the exact reason really why…

"Maybe because he's the father?"

"Some kids rebel against them."

"Well Sasuke's not just some kid now is he," Suigetsu said, "He's a heartbreaker, an ego maniac, a proud brat, a know-it-all, a devil's spawn-" and Suigetsu just went on and on, Juugo tried to hold back a snicker once he saw who was standing right behind Suigetsu… it was Sasuke…

"Your boss." He added nonchalantly as he continued to rant about his bad side…

"-your boss, wait…" Suigetsu paused and slowly turned around. He saw Sasuke glaring at him and he immediately changed his attitude…

"Sasuke, my man!" he said and placed an arm around his shoulder as Sasuke continued to glare at him, Suigetsu cleared his throat, "How long have you been there?" he asked

"Long enough to know that you can't stop talking about me." Sasuke said and shrugged off his arm and went to sit down on his chair. Suigetsu just stuck a tongue out at him and Sasuke shot him a glare. He immediately retreated his tongue and it went back inside his mouth, smiling at Sasuke. Once Sasuke was focused once again at work, Suigetsu turned around and grunted, complaining to himself. Juugo stared at Sasuke…

"Where have you been?" he asked Sasuke

"Just drove Hinata back to the hospital." Sasuke replied, not looking up at them. Suigetsu then turned around slowly and stared at him, while Juugo too sat there like a statue. It had took Sasuke a while to notice that they weren't doing anything at all and just stared at him… he looked up and eyes them warily…

"What?" he demanded, Suigetsu was now beside Juugo…

"Do my ears deceive me?!" Suigetsu said, "The almighty Sasuke just said the first name of a woman!" and Sasuke groaned. There was really nothing wrong with calling Hinata that, he thought. It was her name, and besides, there were lots of Hyugas in town. It was normal for him to be specific on which he had spent his time with…

"You guys are dating?" Juugo asked him, he quickly paused and stared at Juugo and sighed…

"No… we are not." And finally Suigetsu and Juugo had let him be. Finally, Sasuke thought, he had some peace now… aside from that time he spent with Hinata. He didn't know why but he found her company soothing. The way she talked, even though it was soft and barely audible, he found himself listening to it. The way she moved, it was just too graceful… and her eyes… they weren't like the others… she had soft eyes… and he somehow found himself thinking about it…

He shook his thoughts out of his head… right now, he didn't have to focus on Hinata… he has to focus now on the paper work in his hands…

**(~L~) Mayor's Office **

He was beginning to have a migraine. Sure it was a bunch of paper works, but he's been at it since the moment he had started to work as this town's mayor! He just wanted to be acknowledge by everyone and show them his true worth, that's why he ran for the position in the first place… but he didn't expect it to have loads of paper work… he always thought they have little paper work since every single time the mayor was to appear in the television, the papers always seemed to be gone…

Now he knows why, it was because the mayor has to move to a different room, because transferring the papers was too troublesome and some files would be lost. He stopped writing for his hand was already shaking from too much writing…

"Baachan…" he called out, trying to find the blonde-haired ex-mayor. He heard a grunt in response and he immediately knew she had been drunk again and had fallen asleep probably hours ago…

"Baachan, you're no help at all…" Naruto muttered to himself and slowly drifted off to sleep just as her…

_She was dreaming again… about that summer from before. She was back in her old house, and her playmates were with her. There was just the three of them, running around… laughing and playing. She was smiling at the two of them as they were playing hide and seek… they entered… more like trespassed an old house that was in a secluded part of the town. The door creaked once they opened it and they cautiously stepped inside the very old house…_

_The wood was creaking with every step they take, and the first one there abruptly stopped…_

"_You know… they said there's a precious mirror in here somewhere." Said the boy with long black hair, he turned around and grinned at them deviously, "They say it was the mirror a little girl used when she was locked up in her own room and decided to play bloody Mary." Tsunade shrieked in fright, hearing those two words sends shivers up her spine. She heard of the tale of that gruesome ghost story, and she didn't want to be reminded about it at all…_

"_Quit it Orochimaru, you frightened Tsunade!" said the guy with white hair to Orochimaru who stood before them. Orochimaru shrugged and just continued to grin…_

"_Sorry, but it's the truth. That's why this was secluded in the first place. No one dared to go near this place because they say it's haunted."_

"_The-then why are w-we he-here in the first place?" Tsunade asked in stutters. She was really scared now, and was grabbing onto Jiriaya's arm tightly. Then Orochimaru started to walk into the basement. She and Jiriaya just stayed there, waiting for Orochimaru to emerge from underneath. Not a moment later, they peered down when a snake suddenly sprang out of it…_

"Ah!" Tsunade screamed as she woke up from her dream, she then heard a loud thump not too far away from her. She peered over from the heap of papers that were on her desk and saw Naruto on the floor and the paper was scattered everywhere on the floor…

"You're piling that up." She mumbled and tried to go back to sleep, but Naruto didn't hear her for he was back to sleeping. She smiled softly at his sleeping form and then placed him back on his chair. She then picked up the papers on the floor and now piled them neatly in front of him. She then proceeded to fix her piles of paper. Once finished, she then woke Naruto up from his sleep. He didn't wake up directly of course and kept on mumbling about "must have more ramen". Tsunade's eyes twitched and then whacked him awake!

"Itai! Baachan! What was that for?!" he whined

"You were dreaming about that unhealthy food again." She said

"Ramen is not unhealthy!"

"If you eat too much of it then it is."

"Demo-"

"Work hours are now over Naruto," she said and opened the door, "Go home." At the mention of home, Naruto immediately brightened up and dashed out of the office of boredom… as he had described it. Tsunade looked at him retreating and just smirked. Kids these days were careless… but thoughtful nonetheless. They were full of dreams and have lots of potentials. She then looked over at the whole town of Konoha…

The sun was already setting, and she wondered why, after all these years, she dreamt of that… she sighed. It was time for her to go home. She then locked the door of the office and checked out of the building. It was no use trying to reminisce about the past… it was a lesson she learn the hard way… a lesson she wished to pass down to the younger generations in not such an unfortunate way. No one has to disappear… no one has to sacrifice… they all just have to learn to understand… and respect one another…

That was their mistake… _her _mistake. She left her friend all alone during those years, and now she's still suffering even after all this time…

'_I'm really sorry,' _she thought, _'Orochimaru.' _

**(~L~) The next day ~ in Suna**

It had been for so long since he left his hometown… so long since he lost someone that was important to him… he had been apart from the people he cared about for so long. He clenched his fists, why did _they _have to sell that thing in the first place!? And now he just realized what a big mistake it was to not believe her in the first place. He had been foolish… from the start he kept on opposing against his friend until the very end… but he couldn't help it… he was just too pained that he was gone and _it _was the only thing that reminded him about that friend…

He didn't know what exactly the story of that _thing _was but it was dangerous. He only hoped that it wasn't used… under any circumstances… as long as it was kept somewhere where no one would even bother using it… or even looking at it. He sighed, he already reached this far… and if he still couldn't find anything about it he could finally conclude that it was gone… forever lost… and he was wishing that it was that case… after all, there were no reports of such a thing yet anyway…

He passed by an antique shop and paused in his steps, he looked back in the shop… it could be a perfect place to start to look for a clue… but he felt as if it was repulsing… it seemed to him that if he stepped in… then his worst fears could be happening… he hesitantly too some steps inside the antique and then looked at the cashier who was looking annoyed that someone actually bothered to come in… he approached it steadily…

"Ano, uh," he looked at the faded nametag, "Hidan-san, do you have now in your possession a mirror?" he asked hesitantly. Hidan raised his eyebrows at him, later he on rolled his eyes and sighed out of boredom…

"Lots of mirrors here, take your pick old man." He replied, his eyebrows twitched, but he sighed and began to shuffle around with his things. A moment later he finally found what he was looking for and finally took out a very old, yet neatly folded paper. He unfolded it gently and showed it to Hidan who lamely accepted it. As Hidan took a look in it, he raised his eyebrows slightly in interest… the old man caught on…

"Well?" he asked urgently, Hidan looked at him for a while and then sighed…

"Not anymore old man." He replied…

"What do you mean 'not anymore'?"

"Well some young man came in here yesterday and was looking for something."

"Yesterday? It happened only recently?"

"Yeah, I mean, he was looking for something interesting so I went in the back and got this mirror and he bought it." He finished. The old man's expression had immediately darkened, his lips pressed in a thin line…

"This… this man… have you got any information about him?" he asked, still not looking up while Hidan still paid him no interest and waved his hand…

"No I don't." he said dismissively…

"I see… well if you have any news about him can you please call this number?" he said and handed him a card and left. Of course Hidan had taken a look in it and was surprised to read on it the name of a very famous author that he'd been reading a long time ago… he never knew that he'd finally be able to meet and talk to that very man. Back then, they thought he'd disappeared since he haven't made another book a few years after his books had flourished, but now he knows that wasn't the case…

'_Ha, you probably ran out of ideas eh… Jiriaya.' _Hidan thought as he peeked underneath his counter where he still kept his secret possession of Icha Icha Paradise…

**Me: well there you guys have it! :3 hope you are satisfied for now… and so I'm going to rest for a while… or maybe not as I am going to rewrite chapter 2 of "Mixed-up" and will be replaced on… March 9… I think that's TenTen's birthday… anyhow happy anniversary to "The Job" **

**Sasuke&Hinata: 'till next time minna **

**Me: aren't they a cute pair? ;)**


	4. The Lazy day

**M e: okay, so lately I have been not myself lately and I am feeling a bit lazy writing this chapter… anyway, now I am quite getting in the zone already so… hopefully you guys won't get disappointed in this chapter… I'm thinking about straying from my original plan on this story though… and Sasuke is not here with us right now… but Hinata is! **

**Hinata: ohayo minna… hpnarutardsjedipirate1234 does not own Naruto… and may we all wish good luck to Sasuke reconciling with Konoha **

**Me: you said it Hina-chan! Now on to the story :D anyway… as I have finally decided… I'm going to stray from my original plan… :3… then again, maybe not so much…**

* * *

Chapter 4:

His alarm clock suddenly rang and he brutally slammed the clock to shut up. He groaned as he shifted underneath the covers. He had slept late last night due to the amount of paperwork inside the office yesterday… maybe he should start looking for an extra pair of hands in the office… then again, where should he start? He threw the covers off of him and sat up on his bed and cracked his neck a bit before standing up and heading to the bathroom…

As he was done taking a bath and drying himself up and changing his clothes, he went downstairs to get some breakfast, only to find his father already there…

"Good morning." Fugaku greeted, and Sasuke nodded his head at him…

"Morning." He replied, as he grabbed a toast and began to make himself some coffee…

"I already had someone fill out that position you had been looking for." Fugaku said, breaking the silence between the two of them, Sasuke started at him in confusion, trying to figure out what he had meant, and what position it was that he had filled, Fugaku sighed…

"I called your office yesterday and told Suigetsu that I got someone to fill out that needed position you guys have." He calmly stated, and Sasuke tried to refrain himself from breaking the cup he was holding right now. His father very well knew not to mess with his personal team…

"You… what?" He asked, trying to ask his father in disbelief, Fugaku chose to ignore him, afraid that things might go out of hand. He watched from the corner of his eye Sasuke struggling from trying to strangle him to whatever else it was he thinks to be a fitting punishment for him. Sasuke finally stormed out of the dining place, unable to stay in the same room that his father was at, determined to find out who it was his father placed in his team… and more importantly…

Why the hell didn't Suigetsu say anything!?

He got out of the Uchiha mansion quickly and got into his car, and became cautious that he wasn't speeding due to the mixed up emotions he is now feeling. As soon as he arrived in the station, everyone wasn't surprised why he was in such a foul mood, and was careful not to get in his way… once he reached inside his office, he was greeted with a very bubbly girl who suddenly pounced on him… luckily enough he dodged it…

Unfortunately he pinned her to the wall, mistaking her as a threat… which was mostly his view on women… save for one…

"Whoa there Sasuke," Suigetsu said, suddenly coming up from behind him, "She's the new teammate." He said, and Sasuke glared at him, he only nodded, "Sasuke… meet Karin."

For the rest of the day, Sasuke kept a watchful eye on her… why on earth did his father let _her _in!? She had no qualifications or whatsoever in this type of field, except for the fact that her parents were once part of the military before and are now one of the suppliers of gun and whatnots in the war. Sure, she could be used as a negotiating tool and for resources, but other than that, she was useless… unless of course they were very sick or whatever…

He sighed and ran a hand through his finger, very uncomfortable at her lingering gaze at him. The atmosphere was very tense, and Juugo and Suigetsu both stole glances at the two people. Karin was sitting right beside Sasuke, scooting closer and closer by the minute, as she kept on asking questions about him and this line of work asking some help with some cases and all… while Sasuke… well, he was aching to hurt something or somebody right now…

"Alright Karin," Juugo suddenly stated, pulling her away from Sasuke, "Let's give you a tour around the place." He said. As she was trying to protest Sasuke couldn't bring himself to listen to her. She was just so annoying and wouldn't be surprised that she was related to Naruto at all… who knew she was an Uzumaki, right? Oh well, maybe one of their specialties was to annoy him… he sighed in relief as Juugo and Karin finally left the office, leaving only both him and Suigetsu…

"Well, that was a close call." Suigetsu said, until the back of his head was hit by a stapler, "Ouch!" he yelled, "What was that for?!" he yelled at Sasuke, who only returned to reading back the reports he was supposed to read, had it not been for Karin's constant distraction, seriously, what had gone inside his father's mind that possessed him to get that girl in his team anyway? What good was she to him and the police force?

The day ended rather slowly for him, that he had to avoid being seen by Karin. By the time he finally did get out of the station, he groaned in relief and decided to eat since he was getting hungry already. Just as he was about to pass by the hospital, he saw Hinata walking towards the direction of her home… he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel… should he invite her to dinner? Or should he not invite her? He mentally rolled his eyes and then pulled up right beside her…

"Hyuga," he called out as he rolled down his window, "Where you headed to?" he asked, and Hinata just blushed at his sudden question…

"Um… ano, I'm headed home already." She replied meekly, and Sasuke stared at the road ahead of them… she'd have so much walking to do then if she was going to walk all the way to their from the hospital…

"You're going to walk from here all the way to your house?" he asked, in assurance as she just nodded sheepishly at him. He sighed, sometimes she was just too hopeless, "I'm going to grab something to eat, would you care to join me? That way you won't have to walk." He stated, and she shook her head at him…

"Oh no, I'm fine with walking Sasuke-kun, really." She said, and he narrowed his eyes at her…

"You may be fine with walking all by yourself, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people aren't fine with it. Besides its getting dark, who knows what'll happen right?" he said, reasoning with her. Hinata only sighed in defeat. Sasuke was definitely a very persuasive person and could probably get anyone in the car with him. She nodded at him and proceeded to his passenger's seat and got in the car as they began to head into a sushi restaurant.

They both agreed to pay their own expenses and ordered and ate, until Sasuke decided to break the silence…

"So…" he started, "How's work?" he asked, he figured that if they were going to eat dinner together, might as well get acquainted since they haven't got the chance to back then. Hinata looked up and stared at him straight in the eye, and then finally she answered…

"It's fine actually, nothing really urgent happened… how about yours?" she asked, "I heard from Sakura-san that the police are having their hands full." Sasuke only sighed and nodded at her, indicating that indeed it was true…

"Yeah, but mine is fuller." He replied, "Just this morning my father hired another personnel to my personal team, and she turned out quite a handful and doesn't really fit the job description." He replied honestly, puzzled why he would share that kind of information with her. Hinata, taking an interest in to this new personnel wanted to hear more about it, and eventually they started to talk and talk until they really didn't notice that just outside the restaurant was the subject of their conversation…

Karin just had enough of both Juugo and Suigetsu. Who do they think they are coming between her and Sasuke?! Just as she was about to go and look for Sasuke, she found herself hungry, and then decided to go to the nearest restaurant, which was the sushi restaurant. Just as she was about to enter, she saw Sasuke's back and she immediately beamed in delight t her luck… however it soon turned upside down when she saw he was having a conversation with a girl…

Her blood boiled at the sight of the two of them. Who was this girl!? Why was Sasuke even entertaining her?! She stomped inside the restaurant, ignoring the welcomes she was getting from the staff. She made her way towards the couple and Hinata was the first to notice her coming to their direction and didn't expect what happened next…

"Who the hell are you and why you are with Sasuke-kun?!" Karin immediately asked, and Sasuke groaned in irritation…

'_Seriously? How the heck did she find me here?!' _Sasuke thought and looked around them. Thanks to her outburst, everyone's eyes are now on them. Great, just as he was having a good time with Hinata, the devil shows up and makes a scene. He sighed and drank his water and called for the bill, he was just going to have to pay for both of their meals then…

"A-ano, I'm Hi-Hinata." Hinata stuttered, uneasy with the attention they were getting, "Um, I, uh, I was- uh," she struggled to answer until Sasuke held her hand and pulled her away from Karin and out of the restaurant. Karin followed them and once they were finally outside, Sasuke stopped and stepped in between the two girls, shielding Hinata from Karin…

"What the hell do you think you're doing Karin?!" he hissed at her, "Need I remind you I'm your boss and you have to respect me and my guests?" he added, really hoping he wouldn't be able to strangle her to death here and now. She was really getting on his nerves…

"Sasuke-kun," Hinata said, trying to calm him down, "I'm sure she was just really anxious to see you and wanted to talk to you about something." She said trying to suppress her stutter, and was glad she didn't falter. Sasuke sure was scary whenever he was angry, and she did not want to be its recipient… ever. She looked over at Karin, and saw that she was clearly afraid of Sasuke right now, and when she noticed Hinata had been looking at her, she glared at her…

"This is all on you!" she said pointing at Hinata, she tried to get her hands on Hinata however Sasuke grabbed both of her hands and had her on a death grip. She squirmed underneath him, and Hinata placed her hands on his arm…

"Sasuke let her go." She said, worried about Karin…

"You better go now Karin or I might do something I might regret." He hissed at her and then let her go. She gave Hinata one last glare and then walked away from them. Hinata sighed in relief that Karin didn't get such a bad treatment from Sasuke. She felt Sasuke exhale and she looked up to see him looking at her…

"Sorry about that, I don't know what her problem is." He said honestly, and she smiled at him and giggled, he looked at her, puzzled…

"I think I know." She said, and he smirked at her…

"Really now?" he said and she nodded…

"I think you have another fan girl Sasuke-kun." She said and he rolled his eyes at her and smirked…

"Come on, I still need to get you home." He said and led her back to his car and drove her home. As he finally reached his house, his phone rang. He stopped and took it out of his pocket and read the caller ID. He groaned and reluctantly answered it…

"What do you want dobe?"

"_Teme," _he heard from the other side of the phone, _"Please… I'm drowning here man." _

"You're the one who wanted to be mayor right Naruto? Deal with it… I've got my own share of paper work."

"_But-"_

"Here, how about you tell Sakura that I'm going to do her a favour if she helps you out."

"_Deal!" _Naruto immediately answered, _"I'm going to owe you something aren't I?" _Naruto asked him…

"Yep… and it's going to cost you." He said and hung up the phone. He went up to his room directly, not bothering to see if anyone else aside from the maids and him were already home. Who knows what his brother and father might be doing. He unbuttoned his shirt and left it lying on the floor. He was just extremely tired from work and its entire problem… however, if there was something good that happened today… it was probably the fact that he got to spend time with Hinata…

He didn't know why, but at normal cases he'd just let girls handle themselves and their problems. He never stepped in, but somehow, today he did… maybe it was because he was really tired about things that happened. He sighed and turned to his side, maybe he should already get some sleep…

* * *

**(~L~) Mayor's office**

He had been waiting for Sakura for quite some time now, and when he heard a knock on the door, he dashed towards it, making a bunch of papers fall down on the floor. He stopped for a moment, wondering if he should open the door, or pick the papers up first… he shrugged his shoulders and answered the door with a smile, only to have it punched by Sakura…

"Itai Sakura-chan," he said while rubbing his cheek, "Why'd you do that for?" he asked and she just stomped inside the office and looked around. As she saw the papers on the floor she glared at Naruto who only smiled sheepishly at her…

"You're fixing that up." She said and walked to the desk and sat down and began to do the paperwork that was on the table and sorted them out. Naruto could only watch her in awe as she worked too fast. He grinned and began to pick up the papers on the floor and stack them on a different paper and did the same. As soon as Sakura was done sorting it out and analyzing each of it. She gave Naruto the summary of what she's done and began to help him with his share of papers…

"Ie Sakura-chan," Naruto said grinning at her, "I can handle my part." She only nodded at him and looked around…

"You don't want me to do anything else?" she asked and came by Tsunade's desk. On it was a picture frame. She recognized the other three figures, but didn't know who the fourth one was. He seemed to be very much like Sasuke, since he seemed distant from everyone else. He had his arms crossed and was only looking at the camera in the corner of his eye. His eyes seemed like a snake, but it held some loneliness in it… and he had a long black hair, similar to the Hyuga's only he had strands of it covering parts of his forehead…

Naruto noticed her looking over at it as he was stacking the papers back to his desk. Once he was done, he came up behind her and stared at the picture frame. He too did not recognize the fourth figure, while he recognized the old man as the predecessor of his father…

"Ne Sakura-chan," Naruto started, "Do you know who that guy is?" he asked her and she only shook her head…

* * *

**(~L~) The next day**

Sasuke didn't feel like going to work today, so he called in sick… even though he really wasn't. He just felt lazy, and started to doubt that maybe Shikamaru was really rubbing off on him. He sighed and then just looked over at the working police officers and the retired ones' files. He scanned over them and was surprised that Naruto had worked there once…

He took it out from the bunch and saw some few names… Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba… he too found the others…

He decided to open it up and read each of their files. It was funny how many things had happened in his small time in Otogakure… he opened up Naruto's file first and read it. So he became a police for one reason… to catch up to him in Otogakure…

'_Dobe.' _Sasuke thought as he smirked while reading Naruto's profile. He read about how Naruto got into every single place he himself had gone into also and he just couldn't help but chuckle at it, _'You'd really go anywhere I go wouldn't you dobe?' _he thought as he recalled back in his academy days on how Naruto always stuck to his side… made sure there wasn't any trouble at all…made sure he'd always come back to his senses…

His eyes flipped over and saw that it wasn't just the places… it also was the effect and the action Naruto did. It was as if he knew that Sasuke would go over his file and read, _'Whatever it does to reach me…whatever it takes to surpass my abilities,' _he thought. If Naruto knew he had read his file and had a chance to compare it with his, he'd probably be grinning with enthusiasm already. Rubbing it in his face that he already surpassed him…

"No matter," he mumbled to himself smirking, "I won't lose to you… I swear it." He closed the file and opened Neji's. As he opened it, he immediately skipped the family history… everyone knows the Hyuga family was always so complex… having two households, having some heads and all… they were very traditional, no matter what century it already is, they seem to never be able to let go of the past…

He then read the last case Neji was in, it was a sort of hostage taking demanding something completely not within their area of expertise… they wanted power, _'I'd never thought you'd get into so much trouble Neji,' _he thought, and read the part where he had to take a bullet for Naruto… no scratch that… multiple bullets for Naruto, _'I thought you hated him,' _Sasuke thought as he recalled the way Neji acted around Naruto… up until Naruto had beaten the sense out of him,_ 'No… you respected him… my bad.' _He thought as he recalled the final blow that concluded the fight, _'He really did knock some sense into you, didn't he? I never knew that idiot could do so much.' _He thought as he recalled always having to wish he'd have a go at Neji… and now Naruto beat him, he's even more determined…

He closed the folder and opened up the folder of his soon to be brother-in-law. _'I never really knew what made you quit,' _Sasuke thought as he read through the file, he looked at the date he had resigned… it was about the same time his sister and Itachi were already dating, _'Did your sister ask for you to stop?' _he thought, but as he read into the further details, he knew why already, _'No… you stopped because of Akamaru,' _true enough, they said Akamaru was no longer fit to be in the police force since of an accident. This somehow devastated both males and Kiba decided to quit and fully adopt the canine…

'_I can't understand your commitment to that pet though… but I'm glad he survived,' _he thought, to be honest, he did find that dog fun. The way he always walks behind Kiba wherever and whenever… he must make Kiba feel some sort of security…

'_Well, at least your happy,' _he said, realizing what he just thought, _'Not that I care though.' _He immediately countered and closed it and moved on to reading Shikamaru's file… he didn't even have to guess what motivated him…

'_You sure are lazy,' _he thought as he looked through the guy's file, he didn't do much… but it was an important task too, _'You were the best for the job Nara, but I guess laziness got the best of you.' _he then looked at his present occupation, _'But isn't it more tiring to become a pre-school teacher than sit here all day waiting for something to be analyzed?' _he thought, puzzled why the lazy guy decided to get something with much more dedication, maybe he was tired waiting, _'Then again, waiting for so long is also troublesome.' _Just as he was about to read the others, his father walked in his room and he had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes…

"They said you were sick." He plainly said, Sasuke dropped the folder to his side…

"Well, I feel sick." He countered

"Lying is no good, Sasuke. You of all people should know."

"Well, so is keeping secrets." He retorted, and that seemed to have struck a nerve with Fugaku. He didn't know what that secret was, but it must have something to do with Karin… the new recruit. His father was no fool. He wouldn't just throw a girl with no talent on the field unless it's without some good solid reason, "What are you really up to?" he finally asked. His father only held his gaze and then decided to leave…

"Make sure you go to work tomorrow." And he closed the door behind him. Sasuke wanted so bad to throw something at his head, but tried to refrain himself. Whatever this secret was…he had a very bad feeling about it… like it might change his life… he sighed and went back to reading the other files…

* * *

**(~L~) Uzumaki Residence**

"I told you that girl is in the way!" Karin said complaining to her parents, "I was this close to Sasuke yesterday and she just had to be there!" she paced back and forth around the room, still infuriated with the nameless pale-eyed girl that Sasuke defended last night, "What's so great about her anyway? She looks so weird with those freakish eyes of hers!" she complained once more. She looked at her father who was thinking deeply and she stopped in front of his desk…

"Well? What are you doing?" she asked, urgency is in her voice…

"Fugaku-san still hasn't told him yet, Karin." He said, "It'll be best if you let them tell him." He said calmly and Karin just slammed her palms on the desk…

"What do you mean they haven't told him yet?!" her eyes then widened in realization, "Maybe that's why he was like that yesterday, he doesn't know yet and being the gentleman that he is, he had no choice but to accept her invitation!" she said and then turned back to her father…

"Well then, you better tell them to do it fast," she then turned her heals and began to walk out, "I don't want my Sasuke-kun to suffer much longer." As she closed the door, her father sighed and looked at his now spilled cup of coffee. He knew he shouldn't have spoiled Karin, but what can he do? Her mother is way more superior to him, and made sure that Karin always got what she wanted… always…

"Anything for you my dear Karin." He muttered to himself and began to dial something in the phone…

* * *

**(~L~) Suna airport**

He had just arrived right on time for his flight and carefully tucked the mirror in his suitcase. His grandmother was surely going to love it. She was just transferred in Konoha, due to heat stroke. Suna had become very hot over the summer, and Konoha was the nearest place there is that the doctor had recommended. Although it was hard for his grandmother to leave, she had to, because he asked her to. He decided to give her some present every time he'd come back from Suna though…

As he aboard the train, he failed to notice who it was that came by that sat beside him…

Jiriaya had been following him ever since the day he knew where he lived. After years of tracking down something, he did learn a few tricks or so along the way and easily spotted him. However, he didn't know how to get that mirror from him anyway. He figured that maybe he should try to gain his trust more before having to trick him and steal the mirror. Honestly, he will feel bad if that is what he must do… but he won't feel too bad if he knew he had saved a life.

This guy doesn't know what horrors lie within that mirror, and he intends to keep it safe and the secret hidden forever. Just as he was about to strike a conversation, he just realized he had fell asleep. He was about to wake him up until he stopped his hand midway… if he was to wake the young man up, what reason would he have? He has none… except for that mirror… however he'll doubt the validity of the tale behind the mirror he is now in possession of…

Time was running out, and they were closing in on Konoha. The man beside him woke up and wasted no time in gathering his things…

"You need some help with that?" Jiriaya asked nicely but his offer was shrugged off with a quick refusal for an answer. And the young man began walking away from him and came to meet his grandmother… or mother… he really didn't know who it was. From that point on, Jiriaya knew he must work fast… he'd better tell Tsunade first though and he picked up his own bags and began to go to the other way…

Sasori opened up his bag and then gave his present to his grandmother. Chiyo smiled and kissed him on the cheek…

"You know, you'd save a lot more money if you'd just let me return to Suna." She said, she really missed the place, but Sasori wouldn't let her, saying it was bad for her health, "Please Sasori," she said waving his comment off as they drove home, "Those doctors don't know what good for me."

"No, I'm pretty sure they do."

"No they don't."

"Come on, Baachan," he said and stopped as they arrived the house, "I told you I don't want to talk about this anymore. You're staying here and that's that." He said…

"I know but I want to go back." She argued, he sighed out loud, and she knew he was pissed once more, "Sasori."

"I have to go somewhere," he said, "I'll be back before you know it." He said and kissed her cheek.

"I love you." She said and waved at him, he waved back and drove away. She went inside the house and closed the door. She made her way to the room and carefully peeled off the gift wrapping. She smiled at the sight of the mirror. It was beautiful. She then hangs it up on the wall… right beside her bed. She looked at it for a while until she decided to leave her room to make some tea. As the door closed behind her, she didn't get to see the hand that sprung up from the reflection…

* * *

**Me: okay… so I was supposed to update this on Chouji's birthday which is may 1… but I got a huge headache, and I wasn't allowed to use the computer plus I still wasn't finished… anyway, hope you guys are a bit satisfied…**

**Sasuke: and there is also that please review in the end…**

**Hinata: ah Sasuke-kun you're back!-hugs Sasuke-**

**Me: -whispers- let's give them a little alone time. –Winks-**

**anyway... i know this story might suck at first but please... i really need motivation here guys... please, please... give this story a chance :( oh, and by the way, mixed-up will be updated already since i'm done re-writing it :D**

**do review and tell me what you think... i need motivation and inspiring ideas guys... i could really use some help...**


	5. Bad News & Good News

**Me: okay guys, I am currently having a very, very painful headache but I can't bear to be lazing around like last time. Only god knows exactly how busy I have been trying to keep up with my schedules with now the pressure of my last year in high school adding up to my life… and then the next will have to be in concern related to college so bear with me…**

**Sasuke: but still she doesn't own me or any of the Naruto characters…**

**Me: if I do… then I'd be a whole lot busier…**

* * *

Chapter 5:

Sigh, the day before really was very stressful. Hinata had taken the day off to take some rest but right now she was feeling very restless. She wanted to do something, but at the same time felt very lazy. That is until she heard a knock on her door. She sighed and got up from the bed, approaching her door lazily and opened it. Her sister was on her door, hands on her hips and frowning at her, didn't she just left some breakfast on the table a while ago? What was it now?

"Hina-nee," Hanabi started, "What the hell are you doing lazing around your room?" Hinata only shrugged and looked back to her messy sheets…

"Resting… I suppose." She trailed off and turned back to her bad and dropping on the softness of the pillows. She heard her sister sigh and close the door. Hinata kept her eyes shut, hoping to get some more sleep since she still felt sleepy, but knew she had had more than enough sleep for a day. She heard her closet open and then some rustlings on the floor and she popped one eye open to sneak a peek at her sister.

"What are you doing?" Hinata asked as she stared at her sister incredulously as she tackled her wardrobe…

"Looking for something to wear." She muttered and continued ransacking the closet. Hinata sat up and rubbed her eyes…

"Okay, but if I remember correctly you have a very good set of clothes, why not use them?" Hinata asked and Hanabi stopped her ransacking…

"You know what, that's a very good idea!" Hanabi said and rushed out of Hinata's room. Hinata was about to shout after her to clean the mess she had made but did not find the strength in her to do so… _yet_. Maybe later, she thought and laid back down on her bed, slowly but surely drifting off to a dreamless sleep, however, it was not long until Hanabi burst in her room and made her groan…

"I got it!" Hanabi said holding two sets of clothes, "I know you have bigger bust size than me but we're pretty much the same in size, plus I picked out loose clothes for you." She said and tossed them to her sleepy sister's head. Hinata stared in confusion on what Hanabi had picked out for her. When she finally held it up before her, she gawked at the front…

"How am I supposed to wear this?!" she exclaimed and Hanabi turned to her…

"Just like how you wear your other clothes?" she asked unsurely but Hinata sighed…

"Not like that, what I meant was I can't wear this!" she said and pointed at its cleavage part, "It's too low!" Hanabi scoffed…

"Please, your night gown's just the same." She said and was finally done, "Come on dress up, they'll be here any minute now." She said and walked out. Hinata scrambled off to her sister but fell down when she reached the end of the bed and fell face first to the floor…

"Who's they!?" she managed to shout through the door but Hanabi left it unanswered. Hinata could only glare at the door and back at her clothes. Finally she sighed in defeat and complied with her younger sister's wishes. As soon as she was finally done making some adjustments, she finally went out her room… reluctantly. She went down the stairs and could hear some hushed voices, and peered into the living room…

Well, she could say she was not surprised it was both Sakura and Ino her sister was talking to… but she'd be lying. She should have known of course, but she decided to just go up to them freaking them out. That was one of the advantaged being her. She could be as quiet as a mouse yet no one would still notice her even if they were standing right next to each other. As she finally was near them she decided to spook them up…

"Boo." She stated plainly and both her friends jumped up and squeaked, Hanabi only snickered. She knew her sister was there all the time anyway, that was the perks of being Hinata's sibling…

"You guys are so ignorant." She muttered and turned to the door, "Shall we?"

"Hell yeah!" Hinata was suddenly grabbed on both arms and dragged to Sakura's cherry red car. There was only one thing aside from Sasuke that could make them this excited…

Shopping. She mentally prepared herself for the following hours to come, Hanabi could shop like the world was going to end… how much worse would it be if it were the three of them? Besides, they'd be picking something out for her as well, but even if she'd say they don't need to, she really has no say in this type of things. She just sat in the car and waited for the car to pull up to the mall and dreaded the time she would finally have to go out of the car…

She never wanted to be confined as much as she does now…

* * *

**(~L~) Uchiha Sasuke's office**

"That freaking bastard!" Sasuke hissed as he slammed his office door shut. He had just talked to his father about Karin yet still he refused to let him take Karin off of his office saying he has no qualified grounds to fire her…

"No qualified grounds my ass," he cursed as he paced around the room, "She's not even qualified in the squad in the first place!" he hissed and crumbled a piece of paper he had just been writing on. He was writing gibberish and her hand writing was barely readable anymore. He threw it at the trash can, but unfortunately for Suigetsu who had just walked in, it landed inside his cup of coffee… Suigetsu groaned and whined before glaring at Sasuke and showing him the wet piece of paper…

"Seriously Sasuke?! I haven't even sipped from this yet!" he hissed and threw the paper before grabbing some tissues to wipe the spilled coffee off his stained shirt and threw it. Sasuke only rolled his eyes and went on to typing something on his computer…

"If it makes you feel better that paper was not dirty so I'm pretty sure you'd still drink it." He said and ignored what Suigetsu really did to his coffee. Juugo came in with a trailing Karin behind him. He wore that face that seemed to say to Sasuke she indeed was helpless in their type of field of work. He stopped typing and ran his fingers through his hair. Karin came up to him and began to rub his shoulders. Her fingers were bony hard and stiff… it made his shoulders more painful and he could swear his ears would start to bleed if she'd speak any more…

"Sasuke baby are you feeling fine?" she asked worriedly with that high-pitched tone of hers, "I could always make you feel better." She stated and continued rubbing his shoulders. He mentally groaned and looked up at the two other makes in the room pushing each other around and deciding who gets to take turns on handling her… _again._ It was plainly clear Sasuke could not handle her, so it was up to the both of them. Suigetsu finally sighed and straightened up…

"Alright Karin, you start training today." He stated and Karin's face lit up…

"Oh? Sasuke-kun is finally going to train me?" she asked excitedly and Sasuke sat up straight continuing on with his work…

"No, I have much better things to do than deal with you as of the moment," he stated, not looking once at her way, "They will help you." He said and nodded at Suigetsu who begrudgingly pulled Karin away from the office to start some one-on-one sessions with her in training and shaping her up to be an officer…

"You really have to fire her before she starts officially." Juugo stated as he stared at Suigetsu's irritated posture. He heard Sasuke sigh and the typing stop…

"I already tried but otousama said I can't just fire her because she's annoying. I tried telling him different more reasons but he says it was only biased judgement." He said and resumed his work. For a moment Juugo pitied Sasuke for having that kind of a father, but then again, the old guy might be right. they haven't had a girl in their midst ever so maybe she did have special set of skills only a girl has that can be useful in some assignments.

"Do me a favour Juugo," Sasuke said and stood up, ready to leave, "Handle things here for a while until I get back." He said and went out…

"You didn't even wait for an answer." Juugo said to himself as he looked around and sighed in defeat. So much for relaxing around the office today…

* * *

**(~L~) Mall**

They have been walking around in and out of different shops when suddenly they all felt hungry. How long was it since they last ate? They stared at the watch on Hinata's hand and immediately began to scan the area for a place to sit down on and eat. Apparently, they didn't have to wait that long since suddenly someone had called out their names…

"Sakura-chan, Ino, Hinata-chan, Hinata's sister over here!" Naruto shouted as they passed by, and every person on the tables stopped and stared at the new arrivals. Hinata shifted nervously under the gazes given to them as they passed through each table, why do they have to get the very last table? Oh right, it was longer than the other tables…

"Naruto no baka! Hinata's sister is named Hanabi." Sakura hissed as she slapped his head with a paper she had been holding. He winced at the pain and rubbed his head, pouting at her cutely…

"Aw, demo Sakura-chan, I really didn't know her name." he reasoned out, but Hanabi couldn't care less who did or did not remember her name, as long as she got something to eat. The four of them sat down and immediately Sakura noticed some more empty seats…

"Is there someone else you've been expecting Naruto?" she asked with interest. Naruto only shrugged and stared at the entrance of the restaurant and gestured for them to dig in. Hinata was trying to let her sister slow down in eating the stuff. She knew Hanabi was hungry, but eating fast could make her choke…

Meanwhile, Sasuke had been dragged into the restaurant as he tried to get free from his misery in his prison-like office. Karin was very annoying and he wanted to get rid of her fast, but his father wouldn't let him. What's his deal anyway? Can't he see she's not fit in the area? Sasuke sighed as he continued to poke at his tomato salad, ignoring the Hyuga seated right across him. He didn't know why but maybe he was just used to her wearing something that covers most part of her chest…

He wasn't blind, he might have mentioned that earlier, but she was stunning in terms of body shape. Even if she wasn't as beautiful or as feisty as either Sakura or Ino, she was elegant yet simple… kind of the girls he likes, not that he has one anyway…

Why oh why does she have to wear something that shows a lot of her cleavage? He's already immune to other girls, but he never really felt the need to get immune to Hinata since it would be no use. She was just way to conservative and to see her dress like this… it makes him want to throw the table napkin over her chest and cover it up…

He was feeling very protective and conservative right now, but he was thankful Neji wasn't here. It would be a real havoc if the male Hyuga was to suddenly show up and see his innocent cousin dress like this, whoever did made her wear this was going to get into a lot of trouble… but has some sense of fashion…

Hinata had noticed Sasuke stare every once and a while, but mostly he'd just look the other way or down his plate. Was there something on her face? Seeing him act like this was making her very nervous and made her want to shrink away, not to mention the clothes she was wearing. Did it really look awful on her? She sighed and just ate the food on her plate, but she noticed Sasuke's food was rarely touched…

Has he even eaten it since it was given to him?

"Ne Sasuke, I thought you said you were busy?" Naruto asked and Sasuke shrugged…

"More trouble in the office right now. There's a new recruit." He stated and Naruto's ears perked up in interest…

"Who's the unlucky guy?" he said grinning, Sasuke rolled his eyes…

Oh how he wished it _was _a guy…

"Karin… and it's a _she_." He replied and finally took some piece of salad and crunched it between his teeth. He saw Naruto stop and blink as if he had just said something that really caught them off guard. Sasuke was waiting for like forever to make Naruto speak. It seemed like his statement caught him off guard. Was there something he said? Thankfully he started talking again when the rest of his companions arrived…

"Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, I thought you aren't gonna make it!" Naruto said and suddenly Hanabi began coughing up and was drinking the water Hinata was giving her…

"I told you to slow down." Hinata reprimanded and Hanabi only smiled sheepishly at her sister. Konohamaru knows this knucklehead? She thought and just her luck, he took a seat right beside her…

"Hanabi looking good today!" he smiled at her and started to dig in, "I didn't know you knew Naruto-nii." He said and started to eat. She shook her head and stared at the loud blonde male…

"I don't but my sister does." She said and stared at her sister in the corner of her eyes, "I didn't know you know him." She said and turned to Konohamaru. He stared at Naruto and just shrugged…

"Yeah well, it started with a very big misunderstanding," he said and just continued to eat. Moegi had been rummaging through her bag while Udon was meekly eating his lunch…

"Aha!" Moegi said and gave something to Hanabi who curiously took it and stared at the small pamphlet, "That's a little background on the haunted house that's going to be opened sometime next week." Moegi said and smiled. Hanabi just nodded, haunted houses were never really her forte. She remembered back in grade 1 she refused to leave under the table until someone had to pull her out, and was promising herself never again…

"Oh don't worry about anything scaring you," Udon said smiling slightly, "They'll only be telling different scary ghosts stories every week in different rooms."

"Yeah, and they say each of the rooms are haunted, how cool is that?!" Konohamaru said and they both agreed. Hanabi was still sceptical and stared at her sister's approval. Hinata smiled and nodded at her sister, but still Hanabi was quite unsure…

"You should come really, it'll be fun!" Moegi said, "I'll even scream with you."

'_Oh, now I __**definitely **__want to come.' _Hanabi thought sarcastically…

* * *

**(~L~) Uchiha Mansion**

Fugaku had been sitting all day inside his office, monitoring the crimes that are happening all over the town. He had been checking up regularly on Sasuke, but somehow he found out he was barely even in the office anymore. He gritted his teeth in the thought of his youngest. How were they going to get to know each other if Sasuke himself was not even around to get to know her? What's worst, Sasuke had wanted to fire Karin, and he knew she doesn't have what it takes to be in there, but it's the only way…

He had explained to Sasuke she's only there to lessen office work, but it's clear to him Sasuke doesn't want her around. She must have pissed him off or was really very unfit for the job. He sighed and rubbed his temples when he heard his telephone ring. He wanted to ignore it really, and decided to just get back to work. It had stopped, but rang again. He finally gave in and answered…

"Uchiha Fugaku speaking." He replied and restrained to let out a curse when he realized who was on the other line…

"_Fugaku, why is it that your son is not in the office taking care of our daughter?!" _the person hissed at him, and apparently hanging up on them was a pretty tempting thing to do, but he held his ground…

"I am deeply sorry, I was not aware he had other errands to do." He replied coolly, and heard the person sigh on the other line…

"_Next time make sure he's the one handling her." _and the person hung up. Fugaku could only stare at the phone and placed it back down. As much as he would love to have the line disconnected, there might be some more important phone calls to come…

'_Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke,' _Fugaku thought to himself, _'You're really making my work and your life harder.' _He thought and looked at his window…

It was time to get back to work…

* * *

**(~L~) Mayor's office**

After landing in the airport, Jiriaya thought it'd be best if he could go and visit Tsunade for a while. He hasn't seen her in years, plus he figured Naruto had already gotten what he had wanted. He was led up to the top most floor and was now sitting here inside the office waiting for her. He wondered what she's been doing these past years. Suddenly the door opened and he turned around to greet his friend…

"Tsunade!" he greeted, "My, you haven't aged a day at all." He finished when he got a good look at her. She rolled her eyes at him and proceeded to her desk…

"Well, you certainly have." She retorted and smirked, "What brings you back here? I thought you were off in an adventure?" she asked stacking papers up. Jiriaya took a seat in front and started to observe the pile of papers…

"Seriously though Tsunade," he asked quite interested, "How do you even manage to read these things? That's a lot of paper!" he exclaimed. Tsunade noticed him avoiding her question…

"For an author you complain a lot about reading." She commented, "Well?" She said and turned her full attention to him, "What'd I miss?"

"It's about _that _thing, Tsunade, its out again." He said and Tsunade immediately tensed up. She refused to believe it was the thing she was thinking about… it's just impossible. It's out of Konoha… there was nothing to worry about. Besides, ghosts weren't real…

"Exactly what _thing _is it?" she asked, continuing her paperwork since Naruto had gone off with his friends. In fact maybe he and his friends should take a break… take a few weeks off. Besides she heard there was a new resort in the town of Snow…

"You know exactly _what._" He said in a hushed tone and he saw her eyes darken. She stood up abruptly and went to the door. Opening it up for him…

"I'd get someone to check in a hotel for you. I have a lot of work today Jiriaya, surely you'd understand." She stated, lips set in a firm line, and Jiriaya knew she was still in denial. What more evidence did she need? He sighed and nodded at her. There was nothing he could do to change her beliefs, but there was also nothing she could do to change his…

"You can't keep denying it though Tsunade," he said and stood up, "It's back in Konoha." He finished and went out of the office. Tsunade's hands froze midway, what did he mean its back in Konoha? Was this the reason why he returned? To warn her? Pfft, there was no such thing at all. She went back to her desk and rummage through the business ads and found the endorsement in that new resort. She'll have to let Naruto get distracted with a few of his friends probably…

She needed to bury her doubt and fear in her work, and she can't do that with Naruto around whining…

She dialled the number and it rang a few times…

Sure enough, Shizune had already booked Jiriaya a hotel and had gotten a cab for him towards the hotel. As fate would have it, Jiriaya met the man again that bought the mirror. He deemed himself lucky for he had found him again. However, something seemed missing…

When they landed, he had with him that perfectly wrapped mirror on his arms…

Where was it now? And Jiriaya had started to be filled with dread with what's going to come…

This was something he really was hoping to avoid…

* * *

**(~L~) Mall**

Everybody had been celebrating when they heard news of what Tsunade had in store for them, and even Sasuke couldn't deny he was definitely going. Seems like he'll have to just pack up then and go with them in three days time. Naruto had only been chatting occasionally, not something Sasuke deemed natural for him. Naruto was always the loud one among the group, yet now he barely talked…

Naruto's mind of course was still focused on the new member in Sasuke's team. There was a reason he had froze on the spot. Uzumaki…

There were only a few other Uzumaki… only _**one **_other family of Uzumaki…

His mother's brother. He met them once, but of course, they were never really in good terms since they have had conflicting morals. They wanted control, while theirs wanted what's good for the majority. A reason he never talked about them before… a reason he remained silent.

Karin… he despised her the moment he met her…

She was spoiled, arrogant and just plain annoying. Maybe that was something they both had in common, but she wanted everything to go her way, even her parents saw to that. When he was left orphaned, they were supposed to adopt him, bring him into their family, but she didn't want him, so they gave him away…

What a family really…

He was relieved when he received Shizune's call about that new resort in the land of snow, he really needed it. Plus, he didn't want Sasuke getting near his cousin at all. Wherever she was, nothing good comes out of it...

Sasuke was not the only one that noticed of Naruto's quiet nature. Even Sakura found it peculiar of him so she tried to strike up a conversation every once in a while where he would find interesting, but so far, she wasn't successful. She almost gave up and smack him in the head for being so quiet, but then he received a call and she got sidetracked. After getting back on the path, she decided to just let him be. It was obvious he thought something was more important…

She was just going to have to ask about it later, when she's done celebrating…

* * *

**Me: okay, sorry if this chapter seemed short, but I got short on ideas plus there's a lot of school work right now… I still have a lot of new chapters I haven't read yet…**

**Yes, I read a lot and write a lot less… sorry that's the irony of it all, but I do write… just whole new different ideas that I just have to write down before I forget it so I'm sorry for making you wait…**

**Sasuke: so please just finish this and you made me feel like a pervert a while ago…**

**Me: what? About the way you stared at Hinata? I tried to make it as innocent as possible!**

**Sasuke: not enough, I still sound like a pervert…**

**Me: well… are you?!**

**Sasuke: No!**

**Me:-sigh- whatever, anyway read and review! : 3**


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